Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Has $2.51 Million Stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 42,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,354 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $2,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 109.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,356,000 after buying an additional 461,894 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Black Hills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,490,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Black Hills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,413,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 551,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,269,000 after purchasing an additional 142,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 551,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,279,000 after purchasing an additional 89,181 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Scotiabank cut 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 research report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Stock Performance

NYSE BKH opened at $59.80 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $59.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.90. Black Hills Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.676 per share. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.52%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.88%.

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.