U S Wealth Group LLC. Invests $2.62 Million in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

U S Wealth Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,557 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,621,000. BlackRock accounts for 2.0% of U S Wealth Group LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 824,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $845,128,000 after buying an additional 42,084 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,784,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $866,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after buying an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 1,610 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,651,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,130.85.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $822.38 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $968.78 and a 200-day moving average of $992.74.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 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.