359 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Bought by Insight Advisors LLC PA

Insight Advisors LLC PA acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 359 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $55,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 30.9% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $880,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 24.0% during the third quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 326 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $114,000. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 9.4% in the third quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 1,026 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $975,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of BLK opened at $1,005.99 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,025.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $966.82. 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 company has a market capitalization of $155.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Citigroup upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.