BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Acquired by Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,950 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 41,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $42,820,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 18,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,461,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 628 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $643,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,620 shares of company stock valued at $115,571,370 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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. Evercore ISI increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $951.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,000.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $983.89. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. This is an increase 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 is currently 49.62%.

BlackRock Company 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.