Choate Investment Advisors Acquires 406 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Choate Investment Advisors increased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 16.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 406 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of BLK opened at $928.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $983.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $986.30. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.