Xcel Wealth Management LLC Makes New $731,000 Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Xcel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 713 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $731,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $979.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,003.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $980.92. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for 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%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

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

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.