BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Bought by West Paces Advisors Inc.

West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 10.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 175 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 16 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock traded down $4.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $794.39. 388,866 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 606,781. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00. The stock has a market cap of $118.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $776.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $792.19.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.