Portfolio Design Labs LLC Acquires 777 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Portfolio Design Labs LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 32.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of BLK opened at $988.02 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,024.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $971.03. The company has a market capitalization of $153.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS 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 net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLK. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised 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. Barclays cut 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 report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock 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.