PDS Planning Inc Grows Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 803 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $957.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.71 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $982.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $987.43. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost 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 2.18%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock 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.