Essex Financial Services Inc. Buys New Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Essex Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 798 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $818,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $973.54 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,023.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $971.96. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.