Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Boosts Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 400 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 156.1% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,839,000 after acquiring an additional 3,749 shares during the period. Prudential PLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 2,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 748 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $589,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 54,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $43,302,000 after buying an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $985.59 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1,031.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $937.84. The firm has a market cap of $152.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $10.91 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,120.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,070.08.

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.