Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 496 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 53 shares during the quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $985.24 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $152.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,024.93 and a 200 day moving average of $969.98. 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 quarterly earnings results 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.