IFM Investors Pty Ltd Buys Shares of 9,471 Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 678.4% during the 3rd 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 period. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 77.2% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 732 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on BKH shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of Black Hills stock traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $53.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 460,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,435. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.27. Black Hills Co. has a 12-month low of $46.43 and a 12-month high of $66.85.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $863.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. Analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.83%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio 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.