Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,622 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $13,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Natixis purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $390,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 938 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,038 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,537,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 51.7% in the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 578 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 405.1% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,652 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,210,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,036.46 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $984.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $880.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $724.54 and a 1-year high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.62.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This represents a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.