Brighton Jones LLC Boosts Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 23.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,020.19 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market cap of $158.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,024.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $952.31.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Evercore ISI increased 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.