Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 39,527 Shares of Black Hills Corporation $BKH

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) by 205.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 39,527 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.08% of Black Hills worth $3,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the second quarter worth $710,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted 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 valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in Black Hills by 487.2% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 64,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,628,000 after purchasing an additional 53,655 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 8.7% during the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after buying an additional 2,207 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently 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 dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $1,025,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,447,704.70. This represents a 29.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank raised Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Black Hills from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.00.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE BKH opened at $69.90 on Monday. Black Hills Corporation has a 1-year low of $54.92 and a 1-year high of $74.02. The company has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $66.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.45. The business had revenue of $430.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $439.96 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.86% and a net margin of 12.54%.Black Hills’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

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