Prentice Wealth Management LLC Invests $232,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 278 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Investments LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 25.0% in the first quarter. Parkside Investments LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 859 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its holdings in BlackRock by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 67,073 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,919,000 after acquiring an additional 4,786 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at $240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BlackRock stock traded down $5.28 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $789.11. 211,115 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 603,538. The company has a quick ratio of 5.32, a current ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $777.24 and its 200 day moving average is $792.54. The firm has a market cap of $117.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.34. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.93 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price target (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

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.