Boston Trust Walden Corp Purchases Shares of 27,102 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Boston Trust Walden Corp acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 27,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $27,783,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 28,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,745 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 33.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,897,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.0% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 7,119 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,760,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 565 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 2,781 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,641,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 5.6 %

Shares of BLK opened at $1,014.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,026.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $963.86. The company has a market cap of $157.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. 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 current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

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.