Willner & Heller LLC Invests $235,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Willner & Heller LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 230 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $259,000. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,311,000. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $219,000. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $1,840,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 39,539 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,532,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,103.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,027.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $947.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results 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 business 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 earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.