MFA Wealth Services Purchases New Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

MFA Wealth Services acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 562 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $577,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.1 %

BLK opened at $1,016.99 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,025.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $951.85. The stock has a market cap of $157.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on BLK. Evercore ISI raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Company 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.