Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 187,723 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 593,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 187,723 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $34,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 66.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Black Hills by 182.8% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 181.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 373.2% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 83.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of Black Hills stock opened at $58.33 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.84%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.676 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.64%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Company Profile

Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. The company operates in two segments: Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 222,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,394 megawatts of generation capacity and 9,106 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines.