First Eagle Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC cut its position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 28.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 231,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 91,453 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 0.32% of Black Hills worth $13,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 4th quarter worth $77,000. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 137,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,034,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 4th quarter worth $10,490,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 145,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,510,000 after buying an additional 43,089 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Price Performance

BKH stock opened at $61.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.97. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $50.72 and a 52 week high of $65.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $59.05 and its 200 day moving average is $60.03. The firm has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. Research analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. 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.