Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Howard Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 953 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $977,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $667,000. Fisher Funds Management LTD purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $5,082,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Callan Capital LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 423 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redmond Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 1,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $974.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company’s 50-day moving average is $1,011.61 and its 200 day moving average is $978.98.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during 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%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on BLK. UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, February 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.