Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC Takes $219,000 Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 214 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

BLK stock opened at $1,004.23 on Tuesday. 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 50 day moving average of $1,027.33 and a 200 day moving average of $948.40. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market cap of $155.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade 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 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.