Harfst & Associates Inc. Has $2.96 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Harfst & Associates Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,885 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. BlackRock makes up approximately 0.6% of Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $953.38 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,006.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $980.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.