Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 904 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,724,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,169,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on BLK. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,103.33.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $155.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company’s fifty day moving average is $1,027.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $946.18. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.