Nwam LLC Takes $534,000 Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 521 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $534,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BLK. 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 3.7 %

BlackRock stock opened at $979.44 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1,003.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $980.92. The company has a market capitalization of $151.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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 earnings results 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. 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 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, 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. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.