Evoke Wealth LLC Boosts Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Evoke Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 567 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Horizon Investments LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 2,497 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,560,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,987 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,338,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 7,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,813,000 after buying an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 803 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $823,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,657,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BLK. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $957.17 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $982.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $987.81. The firm has a market cap of $148.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. BlackRock’s payout ratio 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.