Riverbend Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Riverbend Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 567 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $590,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on BLK. UBS Group lifted their price objective on 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 lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $914.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $992.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $986.21. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $141.69 billion, a PE ratio of 21.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last 90 days. 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.