Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 19,019 Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 19,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,113,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 8,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Black Hills by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Black Hills by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 551,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,279,000 after purchasing an additional 89,181 shares during the last quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 4th quarter valued at $2,973,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,225,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,725,000 after purchasing an additional 39,369 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKH opened at $60.34 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.09. The company has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.84%. Research analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.88%.

Black Hills Company 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.