Jump Financial LLC Takes Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 54,328 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,931,000. Jump Financial LLC owned about 0.08% of Black Hills at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Black Hills by 3.7% in 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. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 16.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Black Hills by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 957,856 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,458,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Black Hills by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 884,408 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $44,742,000 after buying an additional 18,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 786,811 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,805,000 after buying an additional 106,464 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Black Hills from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Black Hills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $54.80.

Black Hills Price Performance

NYSE BKH traded down $0.06 during trading on Monday, hitting $56.99. 329,252 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 539,851. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Black Hills Co. has a 12-month low of $46.43 and a 12-month high of $65.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07 and a beta of 0.64.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 12.92%. The company had revenue of $726.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $683.00 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.73 earnings per share. Black Hills's revenue was down 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.04%.

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.