Boston Financial Mangement LLC Buys 241 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Boston Financial Mangement LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,915 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $10,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,397,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 55,038 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $56,420,000 after purchasing an additional 7,821 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance grew its position in BlackRock by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 669 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $686,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Sunpointe LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Finally, Emerald Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,286,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $987.08 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $152.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 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 has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1,014.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $975.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.