River Street Advisors LLC Acquires 137 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

River Street Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,990 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the quarter. BlackRock accounts for 1.1% of River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in BlackRock by 208.3% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE BLK traded up $6.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $787.32. 769,459 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 564,991. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $779.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $792.90. The stock has a market cap of $117.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.93 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price target (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

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.