BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stake Raised by Covington Investment Advisors Inc.

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,933 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 2.1% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 81.5% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

BlackRock stock opened at $1,031.49 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $724.54 and a 12 month high of $1,068.34. The stock has a market cap of $159.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $987.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $882.60. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.35%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This represents a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BLK. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen raised their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given 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 $1,019.62.

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.