Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Acquires 86 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. grew its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,579 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $11,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% in the third quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.4% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,979 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,829,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 3.7 %

BLK opened at $979.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $151.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,003.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $980.92. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective 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. Barclays reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price 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, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.