CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Sells 1,957 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co trimmed its position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,957 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $2,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKH. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 182.8% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 181.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 373.2% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 83.3% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Price Performance

BKH opened at $60.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 15.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.92. Black Hills Co. has a 1 year low of $51.66 and a 1 year high of $65.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

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.