Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $8.41 Million Investment in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 143,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,413,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 4,751.1% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 15,821 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 19.3% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 102,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 16,522 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,671,000 after purchasing an additional 33,853 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 264.8% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 28,139 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,720,000 after purchasing an additional 20,425 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 87.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 90,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 41,944 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank decreased 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 report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Stock Performance

BKH stock opened at $59.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.09.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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, research analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.676 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.57%. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.88%.

Black Hills 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.