Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lessened its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Black Hills by 1.6% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 241,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 17,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $955,000 after buying an additional 1,332 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Black Hills in the second quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Black Hills by 9.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $956,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Black Hills by 11.8% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 16,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $898,000 after acquiring an additional 1,749 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.00.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of Black Hills stock opened at $60.33 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $46.43 and a 52 week high of $60.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $57.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.86 and a beta of 0.68.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.21%. The firm had revenue of $402.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $498.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.04%.

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.