547 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Purchased by ROI Financial Advisors LLC

ROI Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 547 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $561,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $822.38 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $968.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $991.65.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target 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. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,130.85.

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.