4,876 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Purchased by Ibex Wealth Advisors

Ibex Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,876 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $4,999,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:BLK traded up $10.55 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $1,061.75. The stock had a trading volume of 43,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 760,803. 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 twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The company has a market capitalization of $164.44 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,024.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $958.99.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.