Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Position Reduced by Aigen Investment Management LP

Aigen Investment Management LP cut its position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 42.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,742 shares during the quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Black Hills by 181.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in Black Hills by 373.2% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the third quarter valued at about $45,000. 86.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH opened at $60.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.72 and a fifty-two week high of $65.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average is $58.84 and its 200-day moving average is $59.94.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.676 dividend. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

Black Hills 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.