SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 511 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 72 shares during the quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 68.6% during the fourth quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 590 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 26,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,642,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 652 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,622 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,695,000 after purchasing an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $965.18 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $149.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,002.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $983.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock 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 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 $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders 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.