Swiss National Bank Acquires 2,600 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of Black Hills worth $8,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKH. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 66.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 182.8% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 373.2% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 83.3% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price target on 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 Stock Performance

BKH stock opened at $59.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.09.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.57%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 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.