Code Waechter LLC Purchases Shares of 333 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Code Waechter LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 333 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $316,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 77,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,551,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $31,637,000. Burford Brothers Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $638,000. FIL Ltd boosted its position in BlackRock by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 840,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $682,280,000 after purchasing an additional 42,347 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total transaction of $22,529,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,041.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock traded up $34.67 during trading on Friday, reaching $990.26. 927,686 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 576,480. The company has a market capitalization of $147.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $899.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $831.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $996.29.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,036.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Argus lifted their price target on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $972.23.

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.