5,835 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Purchased by Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 5,835 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $5,982,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,014.43 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,025.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $966.48. The firm has a market cap of $157.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.