Wealthquest Corp Buys Shares of 241 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 241 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.83, for a total value of $18,824,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares in the company, valued at $9,023,421.24. This represents a 67.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 ninety days, insiders sold 108,190 shares of company stock valued at $113,161,681. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,065.26 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.29, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,011.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $901.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.91 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday, December 7th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,027.31.

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.