Davis R M Inc. Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Davis R M Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,062,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $912.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $141.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. 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 $990.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $986.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. 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 dividend yield of 2.28%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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, Barclays decreased their price target 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. Three investment 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 a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

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.