Postrock Partners LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Postrock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,130 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,158,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was 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 the SEC website. In the last three months, 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 Down 1.1 %

Shares of BLK opened at $900.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $985.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $985.29. The company has a market cap of $139.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

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, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

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.