Checchi Capital Advisers LLC Takes $2.19 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 2,133 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,187,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 7.2% in the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $332,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,120,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 41,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,605,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Old Port Advisors boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 5.9% in the third quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 428 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’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 value 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 approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. Evercore ISI raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE BLK opened at $958.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $148.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,007.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $980.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for 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 was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

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.