Meritage Portfolio Management Takes Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Meritage Portfolio Management purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 61,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,000. Meritage Portfolio Management owned approximately 0.09% of Black Hills at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 678.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Black Hills by 101.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Black Hills by 525.3% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,287 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 210.2% in the third quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 564.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 1,738 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BKH. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Black Hills Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of BKH stock traded down $0.34 on Thursday, hitting $54.20. The company had a trading volume of 360,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,609. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $52.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills Co. has a twelve month low of $46.43 and a twelve month high of $66.85.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The firm had revenue of $591.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $863.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 66.33%.

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.