Allworth Financial LP Purchases 978 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 65.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% during the third quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its position in BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,311,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 0.3% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,424 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,251,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % 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. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of BLK opened at $973.22 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,019.28 and a 200-day moving average of $974.18.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock 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.