Kanawha Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kanawha Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,154 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after buying an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $980.48 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1,021.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $971.97. The company has a market cap of $151.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.