Abel Hall LLC Invests $223,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Abel Hall LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 218 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BLK. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $1,024.30 and a 200-day moving average of $958.99. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 48.57%.

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.