BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Holdings Boosted by Traynor Capital Management Inc.

Traynor Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 34.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 431 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $441,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $1,006.61 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,025.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $951.47. The firm has a market cap of $155.90 billion, a PE ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 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 given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. 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 research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.