W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co Purchases 129 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,293 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 1.8% of W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $16,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Edge Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 507 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,956 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $1,229,000. Finally, Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $344,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.5 %

BlackRock stock opened at $974.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,011.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $978.98. The company has a market cap of $151.00 billion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group boosted 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a report on Monday, February 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average 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 BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is 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.