Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Reduces Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 15.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 31,845 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.25% of Black Hills worth $10,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 66.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Black Hills by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Black Hills by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Black Hills by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 8,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Black Hills by 83.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of 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 Stock Performance

Shares of BKH opened at $59.15 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 15.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. Equities research analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.88%.

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.