Signature Wealth Management Partners LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Signature Wealth Management Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 449 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $460,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in BlackRock by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 231 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Prospect Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $501,000. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $213,000. Mattern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $2,017,000. Finally, FSC Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen increased their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,051.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $162.92 billion, a PE ratio of 25.05, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45. The company’s 50-day moving average is $1,023.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $957.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 48.57%.

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.