Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Purchases 6,127 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,633 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,127 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $20,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,043.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,002.48 and a 200 day moving average of $893.96. The stock has a market cap of $161.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.75, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $742.22 and a 52-week high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.3 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.83, for a total value of $18,824,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,023,421.24. The trade was a 67.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 108,190 shares of company stock valued at $113,161,681 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.