BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Acquired by Community Financial Services Group LLC

Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,866 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 85.2% during the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 313 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 83 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.1% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its position in BlackRock by 4.7% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 425 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its stake in BlackRock by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,044,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $988.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $153.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,024.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $971.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

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.