Compass Planning Associates Inc Buys Shares of 32 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 32 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. 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 90 days, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $990.47 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $1,013.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $976.04. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.40 billion, a PE ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business 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 $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.