WBH Advisory Inc. Acquires 20 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

WBH Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,055 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the quarter. WBH Advisory Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $973.22 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $1,019.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $974.18. The firm has a market cap of $150.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was 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 sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company 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.