Retirement Systems of Alabama Grows Holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 87,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,298 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $5,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Black Hills by 2.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in Black Hills in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $96,374,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Black Hills by 109.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,356,000 after buying an additional 461,894 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Black Hills by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 500,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,610,000 after buying an additional 21,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Black Hills by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 408,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,991,000 after buying an additional 56,440 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of Black Hills stock opened at $59.66 on Tuesday. Black Hills Co. has a 52-week low of $50.51 and a 52-week high of $65.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day moving average of $58.96 and a 200-day moving average of $59.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Equities research analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.13 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.33%.

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.