Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 50 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $51,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 176.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 78,797 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,026,000 after purchasing an additional 50,342 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1,880.2% during the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,357,000 after buying an additional 10,078 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in BlackRock by 4.5% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 114,596 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $90,224,000 after buying an additional 4,917 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $942,640,000 after buying an additional 22,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninepoint Partners LP bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $716,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Citigroup raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of 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. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,020.19 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1,024.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $953.90. The firm has a market cap of $158.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45.

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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 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.