Federated Hermes Inc. Reduces Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 865 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,821,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $395,679,000 after buying an additional 279,987 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 640.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 256,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,840,000 after purchasing an additional 221,898 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Black Hills by 16.3% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $68,001,000 after purchasing an additional 188,266 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 10,111.4% during the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 176,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,911,000 after buying an additional 174,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 777,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,328,000 after buying an additional 139,757 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKH opened at $55.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.39. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $46.43 and a one year high of $66.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23 and a beta of 0.64.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $591.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $863.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BKH shares. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

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.