Atwood & Palmer Inc. Purchases New Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 35 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $493,000. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $337,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $7,433,000. Zhang Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 945 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,027.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $948.40.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. 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 note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,103.33.

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.