Portland Financial Advisors Inc Purchases New Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Portland Financial Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 344 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $353,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 75.9% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,448 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 781 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $741,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.6% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 31,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,332,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,375,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 722 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Monday, February 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $974.97 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,011.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $978.98. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.