Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 339,391 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 59.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 235,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 339,391 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $13,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter valued at $96,374,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 109.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,356,000 after purchasing an additional 461,894 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the fourth quarter valued at $10,490,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Black Hills in the fourth quarter worth about $8,413,000. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Black Hills in the 3rd quarter worth about $8,260,000. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Black Hills Price Performance

BKH opened at $59.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Black Hills Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.59. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.08.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. 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.