By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK – Free Report) by 115.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 838 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 449 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,169,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Activity at BlackRock
In related 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 value of $37,851,121.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was 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 currently owned by company insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,103.33.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on BLK
BlackRock Price Performance
Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $13.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,009.26. 168,207 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 761,451. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $1,028.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $944.29. The company has a market cap of $156.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28.
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.
BlackRock Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.
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.
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