Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Sells 9,600 Shares of Black Hills Corporation $BKH

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 248,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,600 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.34% of Black Hills worth $13,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Black Hills in the second quarter worth approximately $616,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 53,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,010,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,039,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 59,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,588,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the second quarter worth $1,449,000. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Black Hills

In other news, CFO Kimberly F. Nooney sold 14,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $1,025,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,447,704.70. This represents a 29.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Black Hills Trading Up 0.1%

BKH opened at $70.05 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.18. Black Hills Corporation has a 1-year low of $54.92 and a 1-year high of $72.22. The company has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The company had revenue of $430.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 68.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Black Hills from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $57.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

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.