Meritage Portfolio Management Trims Stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,324 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management owned approximately 0.07% of Black Hills worth $2,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKH. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 210,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,882,000 after purchasing an additional 34,129 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 4,751.1% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 15,821 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Black Hills by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 102,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,257,000 after buying an additional 16,522 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Black Hills during the third quarter valued at $1,807,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,671,000 after acquiring an additional 33,853 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank raised their price target on Black Hills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.25.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH opened at $60.06 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.73. Black Hills Co. has a twelve month low of $49.33 and a twelve month high of $65.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.20 and a 200 day moving average of $59.65.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 12.00%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.89%.

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.