Aspiriant LLC Invests $405,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Aspiriant LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 395 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $915,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,827,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 28,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,327,000 after buying an additional 1,276 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6,300.0% during the second quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 576 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 5.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 482 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of 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, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,011.87 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1,026.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $949.91. The company has a market capitalization of $156.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.23 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

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.