Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Buys 129 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 129 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Old Port Advisors raised its stake in BlackRock by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 428 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. abrdn plc raised its stake in BlackRock by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 61,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $58,205,000 after purchasing an additional 4,912 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 584 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $953.38 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1,006.16 and its 200 day moving average is $980.19. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.