Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. Has $20.22 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,726 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 186 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 1.8% of Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $20,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. United Bank increased its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $334,000. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,610,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 99,478 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $94,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,881 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target 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. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $928.74 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $983.61 and its 200 day moving average is $986.99. The firm has a market cap of $144.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG 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, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders 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 represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

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.