Wedmont Private Capital Purchases 419 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 20.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,485 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth approximately $115,377,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in BlackRock by 48.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 337,172 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $320,148,000 after purchasing an additional 109,771 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays cut 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. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,083.92.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded down $3.51 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $952.13. 444,748 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 682,771. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $147.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.50, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,030.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $941.35. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

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.