New England Research & Management Inc. Buys 364 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

New England Research & Management Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,747 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 364 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises 2.0% of New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth about $465,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $36,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the second quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 474 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,432,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,988,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of BLK opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,024.30 and its 200-day moving average is $958.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market cap of $163.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

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.