Goldenstone Wealth Management LLC Takes $538,000 Position in BlackRock $BLK

Goldenstone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 503 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 12,176.1% in the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,707,356,000 after buying an additional 1,582,159 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 217.5% in the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 619,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $722,247,000 after buying an additional 424,388 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 29,043.2% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 245,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $285,748,000 after buying an additional 244,253 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,051,846,000 after buying an additional 221,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 39.5% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 547,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $645,354,000 after buying an additional 154,907 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total value of $417,690.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,335 shares in the company, valued at $3,618,174.85. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 45,249 shares of company stock valued at $47,671,714 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,220.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, CICC Research boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,269.06.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,050.09 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,013.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,054.00. The stock has a market cap of $163.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.36, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.44. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $917.39 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.64 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.77 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.53%.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.