Joule Financial LLC Purchases New Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Joule Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 206 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $383,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 21.2% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,321,000 after buying an additional 1,406 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 10,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,235,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 131,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $103,355,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,027.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $946.18. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were 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 $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,103.33.

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.