Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC Increases Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. BlackRock accounts for approximately 1.7% of Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $8,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC now owns 248 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,658,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,024,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $64,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.4 %

BLK opened at $950.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $147.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $980.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $987.70. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

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.