272 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Purchased by Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 272 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $330,662,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $115,377,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.1 %

BlackRock stock opened at $1,016.99 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,025.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $951.85. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $157.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

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.