Horizon Investments LLC Purchases 50 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,497 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 3,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,921,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $957.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $148.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $982.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $987.81. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 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 is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

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

About BlackRock

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.