Gries Financial LLC Buys 116 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Gries Financial LLC increased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 27.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 538 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Gries Financial LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at about $465,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in BlackRock by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the period. Founders Financial Alliance LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 474 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,432,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% during the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,988,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BLK. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $1,024.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $958.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio 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.