Invesco Ltd. Acquires 44,515 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 831,156 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 44,515 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.16% of Black Hills worth $48,639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Black Hills by 66.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Barnett & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Barnett & Company Inc. now owns 7,500 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,919 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in Black Hills by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 8,162 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company's stock.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Black Hills stock traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $60.07. The stock had a trading volume of 14,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 455,552. The company has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Black Hills Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.66 and a fifty-two week high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. This is a positive change from Black Hills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank reduced their price target 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 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.