BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Acquired by AJ Advisors LLC

AJ Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 441 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. BlackRock accounts for 0.2% of AJ Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. AJ Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,075.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $166.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,026.43 and a 200-day moving average of $962.18. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other 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 value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.