Truvestments Capital LLC Raises Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 123 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 52.6% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $765,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,597,000 after acquiring an additional 2,466 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $87,904,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 9,712 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,956,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Cascade Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $379,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $909.96 on Thursday. 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 market capitalization of $141.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $987.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $985.88. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

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.