Traynor Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 34.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 431 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $755,000. Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,496,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 544 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnus Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 391 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,006.61 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $155.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,025.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $951.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’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 transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.