First Personal Financial Services Has $1.89 Million Stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

First Personal Financial Services grew its stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 47.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 34,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,249 shares during the period. First Personal Financial Services owned approximately 0.05% of Black Hills worth $1,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Black Hills by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,203,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $447,927,000 after purchasing an additional 60,219 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Black Hills by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,251,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $175,430,000 after acquiring an additional 475,768 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Black Hills by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 949,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,622,000 after purchasing an additional 3,544 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Black Hills by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 904,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,783,000 after purchasing an additional 3,949 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 780,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,109,000 after purchasing an additional 29,141 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BKH. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.00.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH stock traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $59.11. 332,110 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 482,985. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $46.43 and a 52 week high of $59.82. The stock has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $56.92 and its 200-day moving average is $54.88.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $402.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 64.04%.

About Black Hills

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.