Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Buys 53 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 496 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth approximately $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings 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 valued at $25,724,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,010,000 after buying an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 20.4% during 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 during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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 reduced their price objective on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $985.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1,024.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $969.98. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $152.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.