Vantage Financial Partners LLC Buys Shares of 205 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Vantage Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 205 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $518,000. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,432,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $32,904,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,793,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,724,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $967.48 on Thursday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $998.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $983.77. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a market cap of $149.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.04, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the 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 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 56,620 shares of company stock valued at $59,085,750. 0.90% of the stock is owned by 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.