BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Bought by Midwest Professional Planners LTD.

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. raised its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the period. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. United Bank boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $285,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $334,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 91.7% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 736 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $699,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,716,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $900.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $985.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $985.29. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company 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 business earned $9.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average 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.