Asset Planning Inc Purchases Shares of 89 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 89 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $91,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 22.1% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 83 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its position in BlackRock by 4.7% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 425 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 1,891 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,796,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $2,555,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $980.48 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average of $1,021.99 and a 200-day moving average of $971.97. The company has a market cap of $151.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BLK. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is 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.