Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC Takes $534,000 Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 521 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $534,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.7 %

BLK opened at $1,011.87 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1,026.34 and a 200-day moving average of $949.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45.

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 net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.23 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target 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. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. 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, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.