IFP Advisors Inc Grows Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,956 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Dover Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,229,000. Delta Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $344,000. MONECO Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 675.0% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 2,077 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,129,000 after buying an additional 1,809 shares in the last quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $504,000. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $977,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $958.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $148.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1,007.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $980.38.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 48.57%.

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.