Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 838 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Bessemer Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 59.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 838 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $33,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 500,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,697 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Black Hills by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,671,000 after buying an additional 33,853 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Black Hills in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,185,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 109.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,356,000 after buying an additional 461,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 408,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,991,000 after acquiring an additional 56,440 shares during the period. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Black Hills Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of BKH opened at $60.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. 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 $51.66 and a 52 week high of $65.59. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.90.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.84%. On average, analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.676 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s payout ratio 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.