First American Bank Purchases 14 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

First American Bank raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,307 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the quarter. First American Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $944.49 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,004.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $979.94. The stock has a market cap of $146.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on BLK. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on 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 increased their price target 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. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.