812 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Purchased by Northern Financial Advisors Inc

Northern Financial Advisors Inc purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 812 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $832,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 83 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 425 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,044,000 after buying an additional 1,353 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 1,891 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,796,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,555,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $980.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $151.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,021.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $971.97.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.