Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Stock Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,040 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $1,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BKH. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 16.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,059,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $466,684,000 after purchasing an additional 838,590 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in Black Hills in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,326,000. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in Black Hills during the first quarter worth $45,758,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Black Hills by 14.6% during the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,502,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,085,000 after purchasing an additional 318,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Black Hills by 3.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,821,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $395,679,000 after purchasing an additional 279,987 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.80.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.5 %

BKH stock opened at $52.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.27 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $46.43 and a one year high of $66.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.99.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $591.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $863.67 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is presently 66.33%.

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.