OLD Republic International Corp Sells 211,000 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

OLD Republic International Corp lessened its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH – Get Rating) by 32.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 433,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 211,000 shares during the quarter. OLD Republic International Corp owned approximately 0.67% of Black Hills worth $29,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 2.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,969,058 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,015,000 after acquiring an additional 151,038 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,678,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $452,315,000 after acquiring an additional 178,522 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 3.9% during the third quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,600,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $176,177,000 after acquiring an additional 98,568 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Black Hills by 4.7% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 916,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,061,000 after buying an additional 40,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Black Hills by 5.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 824,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,819,000 after buying an additional 39,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America downgraded Black Hills from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Black Hills from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $81.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Mizuho lowered Black Hills from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $71.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Black Hills in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Sidoti lowered Black Hills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.29.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of BKH stock opened at $61.46 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $67.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.64. The stock has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.30 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Black Hills Co. has a 12 month low of $59.08 and a 12 month high of $80.95.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $791.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $657.67 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 10.13%. The company’s revenue was up 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 14th were paid a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 13th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 62.66%.

About Black Hills

(Get Rating)

Black Hills Corp. is a diversified energy company. It operates through the following segments: Electric Utilities, Gas Utilities, and Corporate and Other. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The Gas Utilities segment provides natural gas in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming.