Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $18.46 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 171 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $18,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 628 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $643,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 893 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $20,079,000. Finally, LGT Group Foundation bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $48,444,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted 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 objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.6 %

BLK stock opened at $951.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $147.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,000.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $983.89. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. 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 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. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,620 shares of company stock worth $115,571,370 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.