KCM Investment Advisors LLC Invests $2.48 Million in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,481,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,618,000. ROI Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $561,000. Riverwater Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $517,000. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR now owns 9,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,033,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the period. Finally, Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $439,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,130.85.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $822.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $968.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $992.26. The firm has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research 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 was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

About BlackRock

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.