Summit Financial LLC Purchases 384 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. increased its position in BlackRock by 7,975.0% in the 4th quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. now owns 323 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 155.7% in the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 10,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,331,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 23,436 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,024,000 after purchasing an additional 2,830 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $947.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $978.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $992.24. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market cap of $147.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.