Telos Capital Management Inc. Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Telos Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 208 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 30.9% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $880,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 984 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $934,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.8% in the third quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC now owns 679 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $340,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 11,570 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,986,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $991.95 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,025.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $967.09. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $153.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 48.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on BLK. Barclays dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Saturday, February 1st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.