CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Saturday. They issued 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,017.12 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,026.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $965.17. The company has a market capitalization of $157.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.