Venturi Wealth Management LLC Has $1.85 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 18.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE BLK opened at $973.22 on Tuesday. 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 market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,019.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $974.18. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About BlackRock

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.