Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 329 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd 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. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market cap of $155.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,027.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $948.40. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company 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.