Weaver Consulting Group Raises Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Weaver Consulting Group increased its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 373 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Weaver Consulting Group’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $391,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $208,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth $16,026,000. Finally, Ignite Planners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 15.8% in the first quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 463 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,028.01 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,122.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,077.17. The stock has a market cap of $159.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.42, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $11.46 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,312.00 to $1,305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 14th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,302.53.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.