Wayfinding Financial LLC Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 275 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,024,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $64,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 7,517 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,706,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 343 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 30,956 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,733,000 after buying an additional 645 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $954.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $148.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s fifty day moving average is $980.87 and its 200 day moving average is $987.36. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

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.