BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Bought by Gibson Capital LLC

Gibson Capital LLC increased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 263 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Gibson Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $270,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.1 %

BLK opened at $947.45 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $977.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $992.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market cap of $147.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.