McAdam LLC Invests $237,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

McAdam LLC bought a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 231 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% during the third quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% during the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 328 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,424 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,251,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,979 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,829,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,014.90 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,026.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $963.86.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s 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.