State of Michigan Retirement System Buys 300 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BKH. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Black Hills by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Black Hills by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,330 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Black Hills by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter valued at $308,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Scotiabank decreased their target price 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 Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills Co. has a 1-year low of $50.72 and a 1-year high of $65.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.99.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.676 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.50%. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s dividend 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.