Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Acquires New Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,666 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $4,783,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,004.23 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market cap of $155.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1,026.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $949.91.

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 the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company 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 was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Barclays decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

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.