Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 29.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,515 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BKH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,602,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $503,402,000 after buying an additional 37,790 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Black Hills by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,698,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,402,000 after acquiring an additional 35,077 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the third quarter valued at approximately $96,374,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,225,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,725,000 after purchasing an additional 39,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 897,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,507,000 after purchasing an additional 14,599 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Scotiabank decreased their price target on 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 Stock Performance

Black Hills stock opened at $58.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.86 and its 200 day moving average is $60.08.

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

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 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.