Asset Planning Inc Buys Shares of 89 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 89 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $91,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its holdings in BlackRock by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 590 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $1,748,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 37,468 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,409,000 after buying an additional 1,838 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,311,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 41.7% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 510 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $523,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Sunday, February 9th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three research 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $980.48 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,021.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $971.97. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $151.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. 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 (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.