Inceptionr LLC Makes New $710,000 Investment in Black Hills Corporation $BKH

Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 12,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $710,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BKH. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Black Hills by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Black Hills by 487.2% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 64,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after purchasing an additional 53,655 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its position in Black Hills by 11.4% in the second quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 8.7% in the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,547,000 after buying an additional 2,207 shares during the period. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 1.2% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 41,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,333,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Black Hills

In other news, CFO Kimberly F. Nooney sold 14,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,447,704.70. This trade represents a 29.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BKH. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Black Hills from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $57.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Black Hills Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE BKH opened at $72.89 on Friday. Black Hills Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.92 and a 12 month high of $73.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $64.94 and its 200 day moving average is $60.51.

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, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.45. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The firm had revenue of $430.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 68.18%.

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.