KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC Purchases New Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $8,693,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $31,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays lowered 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $995.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $154.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,028.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $944.29. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.35%.

About BlackRock

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.