Prospect Financial Services LLC Acquires Shares of 489 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Prospect Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 489 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $501,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, 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 sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,029.63 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,024.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $955.97. The company has a market capitalization of $159.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.52, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. 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 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

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.