Values Added Financial LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Values Added Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 307 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. West Tower Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Selway Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $41,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $832.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $124.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $845.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $805.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $742.68.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.84 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.81% and a return on equity of 14.74%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.81 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 55.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BLK. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $885.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of BlackRock from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $708.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, December 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $720.00 to $818.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $719.00 to $793.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.73.

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.