Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Buys Shares of 674 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 674 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $694,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. 17 Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $244,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 9,189 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,420,000 after purchasing an additional 2,843 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $757,000. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $387,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on BLK. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $991.95 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $153.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,024.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $968.98. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 2.10%. BlackRock’s payout ratio 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.