Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Purchases 422 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 in the company, valued at $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 ninety days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,014.90 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,026.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $963.86. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on BLK shares. UBS Group upped their price target 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. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. 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, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

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.