Procyon Advisors LLC Acquires 356 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 88.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 758 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,693,000. Certified Advisory Corp acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Fermata Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $252,000. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $318,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $904,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,004.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,027.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $946.18.

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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

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.