Atwood & Palmer Inc. Takes $36,000 Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 35 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,027.33 and a 200 day moving average of $948.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

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.