Grant Private Wealth Management Inc Makes New $820,000 Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Grant Private Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 800 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $820,000. BlackRock comprises 0.9% of Grant Private Wealth Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after buying an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $2,356,357,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in BlackRock by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,130,330,000 after purchasing an additional 160,323 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $963.82 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $149.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.95, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $975.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $992.89. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,126.92.

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.