HTLF Bank Makes New $1.30 Million Investment in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

HTLF Bank acquired a new position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 24,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,303,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 87.3% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 60.6% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 678.4% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 101.2% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com lowered Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.80.

Black Hills Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE:BKH traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 98,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 547,203. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.56. Black Hills Co. has a twelve month low of $46.43 and a twelve month high of $66.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.84%. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.33%.

About Black Hills

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.