Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $16.71 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,176 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $16,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 384 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,560 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,700,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $3,243,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 3,532 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,621,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Precedent Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $1,511,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, 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 value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE BLK opened at $1,020.19 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45. 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 firm has a market cap of $158.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1,024.23 and its 200-day moving average is $954.96.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen increased their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.