First City Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

First City Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 293 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,427,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 545 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Old Port Advisors raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 443 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 603 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on BLK shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,063.00.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was 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 owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:BLK traded up $1.38 on Friday, hitting $1,018.78. 222,818 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 409,062. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,030.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $930.79. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45. The company has a market cap of $157.79 billion, a PE ratio of 25.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.35%.

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.