Guardian Partners Inc. Buys New Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 343 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE BLK opened at $950.43 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $147.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $980.77 and a 200-day moving average of $989.13. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLK. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.