Cascade Financial Partners LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Cascade Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 370 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 3.7% in the third quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its position in BlackRock by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 0.7% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,447,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus 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 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $912.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $990.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $986.42. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 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 given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. 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. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

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.