RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position 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 institutional investor bought 775 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $794,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Amundi bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $343,976,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $330,662,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $944.75 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $146.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $976.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $993.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

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 the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

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.