Leo Wealth LLC Increases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Leo Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 67.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,716 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,133 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up about 1.2% of Leo Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Leo Wealth LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $13,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 3rd 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 raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,010,000 after buying an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,169,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Saturday, February 1st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.8 %

BLK opened at $1,005.99 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,025.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $966.82. The company has a market capitalization of $155.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost 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 yield of 2.07%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

About BlackRock

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.