Sovran Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 707 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $681,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hartline Investment Corp acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $8,930,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $4,488,000. Core Alternative Capital lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 870 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $818,000. Finally, Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 603 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $988.02 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,024.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.03. The firm has a market cap of $153.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 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 (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors 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 positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

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.