Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Takes $154,000 Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 150 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $154,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,311,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Noesis Capital Mangement Corp grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 1,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $968.79 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $980.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $990.36. The company has a market capitalization of $150.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Company 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.