Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Has $670,000 Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lessened its holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 26.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,497 shares during the quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 4th quarter valued at $1,564,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 3.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 227.3% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 31,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after acquiring an additional 21,825 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 246.0% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after acquiring an additional 28,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 2,366.5% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 111,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,004,000 after acquiring an additional 106,777 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Black Hills from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.60.

Black Hills Stock Performance

BKH stock opened at $54.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $54.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.55. Black Hills Co. has a 1-year low of $46.43 and a 1-year high of $61.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 0.69.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 12.92%. The business had revenue of $726.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $683.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 64.04%.

Insider Activity at Black Hills

In related news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 3,094 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $169,674.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,307.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.