Shepherd Financial Partners LLC Increases Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Shepherd Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,824 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. BlackRock makes up approximately 0.6% of Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.5 %

BlackRock stock opened at $991.95 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. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1,025.55 and a 200 day moving average of $967.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

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.