Community Financial Services Group LLC Increases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,866 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd 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. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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 initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. 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. Finally, 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, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $988.02 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,024.23 and a 200-day moving average of $971.03. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $153.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.93 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 (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 sale, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.