Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 24 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 923 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market cap of $163.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,024.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $958.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. 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 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

About BlackRock

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.