Alta Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Alta Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 50,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,973,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Black Hills by 181.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Black Hills by 373.2% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Black Hills by 83.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank lowered their price target 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 Price Performance

BKH opened at $61.89 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.92. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.73. Black Hills Co. has a twelve month low of $50.72 and a twelve month high of $65.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.