Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 86.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 602 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 584 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $585,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Childress Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $250,000. Oak Harvest Investment Services lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 11,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,859,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 282 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Barclays decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.0 %

BLK stock opened at $944.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $146.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,004.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $979.94. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

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 net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

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.