Compass Planning Associates Inc Invests $33,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 32 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,166 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,220,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $112,000. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $1,588,000. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $379,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut 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 research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. 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 target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.4 %

BlackRock stock opened at $990.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $153.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,013.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $976.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during 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 business earned $9.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

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.