Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 579 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $594,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Saturday, February 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,014.43 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,025.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $966.82. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $157.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is an increase 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 2.05%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

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.