Independent Advisor Alliance Acquires 764 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 28.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 20,276 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $20,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in BlackRock by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,038,000 after purchasing an additional 4,210 shares during the last quarter. Taika Capital LP bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $379,000. Finally, Farrow Financial Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Farrow Financial Inc. now owns 2,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,752,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on BLK shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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. Three 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, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of BLK opened at $909.96 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $987.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $985.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.