Rep. James Comer Buys BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stock

Representative James Comer (R-Kentucky) recently bought shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK). In a filing disclosed on January 10th, the Representative disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in BlackRock stock on January 2nd.

Representative James Comer also recently made the following trade(s):

• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Dover (NYSE:DOV) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Home Depot (NYSE:HD) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Amphenol (NYSE:APH) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on 1/2/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) on 1/2/2025.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded up $39.86 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $1,003.03. 519,585 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 742,685. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market cap of $155.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,029.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $943.81. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.35%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly 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. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in BlackRock by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after acquiring an additional 40,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,310,762,000 after acquiring an additional 46,728 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,088.67.

About Representative Comer

James Comer Jr. (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District. He assumed office on November 14, 2016. His current term ends on January 3, 2025. Comer (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the U.S. House to represent Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022. Prior to serving in Congress, Comer was the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture from 2012 to 2016, and the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2001 to 2012. He also unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Kentucky in 2015. A writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal called Comer “instrumental in the final passage of a five-year farm bill,” noting that he served on the conference committee that produced the final version of the bill. Comer is from Tompkinsville, Ky. He acted as the director of South Central Bank for 12 years and has been the co-owner of the Comer Land and Cattle Company. He previously served as president of CFB Foods Incorporated from 2001 to 2003 and president of Comer and Polston Insurance Incorporated from 1993 to 1995.

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.