KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 8,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $8,693,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock 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 transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $995.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market cap of $154.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,028.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $944.29.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,103.33.

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.