Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 636 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 636 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $652,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,663,330,000 after acquiring an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in BlackRock by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,130,330,000 after acquiring an additional 160,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $634,000 after acquiring an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. UBS Group raised 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. Barclays cut their price target on 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $968.46 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $979.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $990.21. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

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.