Everett Harris & Co. CA Buys Shares of 3,422 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Everett Harris & Co. CA acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,508,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after acquiring an additional 42,757 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after acquiring an additional 30,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after purchasing an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.4 %

BLK opened at $1,075.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1,025.64 and a 200 day moving average of $960.42. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $166.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock 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 owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Company 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.