Powers Advisory Group LLC Purchases New Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Powers Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 588 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $603,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,070.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $165.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,024.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $959.65. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on BLK. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Company 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.