John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Decreases Holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 64.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 83,375 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. owned 0.07% of Black Hills worth $2,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Black Hills by 3.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,821,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $395,679,000 after acquiring an additional 279,987 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills in the third quarter worth $1,752,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 246.0% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,185,000 after buying an additional 28,797 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 57.0% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 159,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,053,000 after buying an additional 57,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 33.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $929,000 after buying an additional 4,345 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKH traded up $1.54 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $54.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 525,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 549,745. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills Co. has a twelve month low of $46.43 and a twelve month high of $66.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.65 and a 200 day moving average of $52.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Black Hills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.80.

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.