Kentucky Trust Co Acquires New Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 318 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hartford Investment Management Co. increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 9,001 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,227,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 278 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 4,866 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,988,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 892 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $914,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $988.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,024.23 and a 200-day moving average of $971.03.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They issued 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company 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.