Black Hills Corp (BKH) will raise its quarterly dividend by 6.7 percent to $0.475 per share in the fourth quarter of 2017. It’s the second dividend increase this year by the utility company.

The increased dividend will be paid on December 1, 2017 to shareholders of record on November 17, 2017. The new dividend yield for BKH is 3.2%.

“We are confident in our ability to deliver long-term shareholder value despite our near-term earnings challenges. Demonstrating that confidence, we moved up our 2018 dividend increase by one quarter. We increased the quarterly dividend by 6.7 percent to $0.475 per share, bringing the total dividend payout for 2017 to $1.81 per share. Our measured, but flexible, approach to growing our dividend is an important component of our strategy to deliver top quartile long-term total shareholder returns,” said David R. Emery, chairman and CEO of Black Hills Corp.

Black Hills Corp. is a utility company serving natural gas and electric utility customers in eight states: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. The company also generates wholesale electricity and produces natural gas, oil and coal.