Kathmere Capital Management LLC Purchases 112 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 27.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 515 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.8% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 20.4% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,088.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,012.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,029.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $943.81. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.