C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. Raises Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7,975.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 323 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $947.48 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $978.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $992.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week 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 for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of 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, StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. 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 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.