Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 2,040 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,040 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $1,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BKH. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 13,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $829,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC now owns 21,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,506,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BKH. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.80.

Black Hills Price Performance

BKH stock opened at $52.00 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $52.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.27 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills Co. has a 52-week low of $46.43 and a 52-week 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.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $863.67 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.33%.

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.