Nomura Holdings Inc. Buys New Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $555,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BKH. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 309.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 953,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,795,000 after buying an additional 720,628 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 203.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 507,986 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,727,000 after acquiring an additional 340,686 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,845,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,975,000 after acquiring an additional 326,959 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Black Hills by 113.6% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 463,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,122,000 after purchasing an additional 246,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Black Hills in the fourth quarter valued at $10,490,000. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BKH. Scotiabank dropped their target price on 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. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Black Hills in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company.

Black Hills Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE BKH opened at $59.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.74. Black Hills Co. has a 12-month low of $51.66 and a 12-month high of $65.59. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.86.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.92 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $805.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.73 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.676 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. 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.