Black Hills Corporation $BKH Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its position in shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) by 98.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 258,406 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Paradiem LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 858.5% during the third quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 234,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,463,000 after purchasing an additional 210,333 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the second quarter valued at about $616,000. Midwest Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Black Hills in the second quarter worth about $3,039,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 19.4% in the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 53,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,010,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 17.3% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 38,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,180,000 after acquiring an additional 5,740 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Black Hills Trading Down 1.9%

Black Hills stock opened at $72.20 on Thursday. Black Hills Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.92 and a 12 month high of $74.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.75.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.86% and a net margin of 12.54%.The firm had revenue of $430.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.703 dividend. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Black Hills news, CFO Kimberly F. Nooney sold 14,500 shares of Black Hills stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,447,704.70. The trade was a 29.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.67.

Black Hills Company Profile

Black Hills Corporation is a diversified energy company based in Rapid City, South Dakota, that provides electricity and natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries—Black Hills Power, Cheyenne Light & Power, and Black Hills Energy—the company delivers reliable energy across Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

In addition to its distribution operations, Black Hills owns and operates a generation portfolio that includes natural gas–fired plants, coal-fired units, hydroelectric facilities and wind projects.