Meeder Asset Management Inc. Has $5.05 Million Stock Holdings in Black Hills Corporation $BKH

Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) by 33.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 81,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,765 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $5,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 0.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,841,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,515,000 after purchasing an additional 31,093 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Black Hills by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,822,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,252,000 after buying an additional 36,818 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Black Hills by 59.3% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,045,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,634,000 after buying an additional 388,936 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 899,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,440,000 after buying an additional 10,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 867,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,679,000 after acquiring an additional 43,541 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BKH. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a report on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank raised Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.6%

BKH stock opened at $70.74 on Monday. Black Hills Corporation has a 1-year low of $54.92 and a 1-year high of $74.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.75.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 7.86%. The firm had revenue of $430.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a $0.676 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 68.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Black Hills news, CFO Kimberly F. Nooney sold 14,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 29.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.