Heritage Trust Co Acquires New Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Heritage Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,188 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,218,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $572,730,000. Amundi purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $343,976,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $879.39 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $942.05 and a 200-day moving average of $987.97. The company has a market capitalization of $136.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Sunday, April 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,096.92.

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.