Advisor OS LLC Has $683,000 Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 87.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 666 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the quarter. Advisor OS LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays reduced 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $953.38 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $147.66 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1,006.16 and a 200-day moving average of $980.19. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

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 business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.