Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Decreases Stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC reduced its stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 74.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 96,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 275,628 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Black Hills worth $5,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth $202,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 372.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 176,639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,606,000 after buying an additional 12,805 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 16,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $870,000 after buying an additional 1,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 58.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $874,000 after buying an additional 5,943 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Black Hills Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE BKH opened at $61.04 on Friday. Black Hills Co. has a 12 month low of $46.43 and a 12 month high of $61.96. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.94 and a 200-day moving average of $56.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.68.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $402.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $498.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.