Squarepoint Ops LLC Acquires Shares of 5,174 Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 5,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Black Hills in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $68.00 price target for the company.

Black Hills Price Performance

Black Hills stock opened at $57.14 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.57. 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.72.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. The firm had revenue of $805.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.676 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.88%.

Black Hills Company 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.