John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Has $2.53 Million Stock Holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) by 64.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,880 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 83,375 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. owned 0.07% of Black Hills worth $2,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 36,590 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,896,000 after buying an additional 3,657 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 34,426 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,651,000 after buying an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 8,190 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 748,590 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,656,000 after buying an additional 50,038 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 13,420 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company's stock.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Black Hills stock traded up $1.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $54.00. 525,533 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 552,908. Black Hills Co. has a 12-month low of $46.43 and a 12-month 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 cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.64. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $52.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.04.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $863.67 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Black Hills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKH. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Black Hills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Black Hills presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.80.

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.