West Financial Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 38 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 38 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,100.50.

BlackRock Stock Up 5.1 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,012.62 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market cap of $156.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,029.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $943.81.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.