Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases 286 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,710 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at $383,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in BlackRock by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 421 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $915,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.5% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,827,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 28,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

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

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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 was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,103.33.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was 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 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.