Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Purchases New Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

by · The Markets Daily

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK – Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 358 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $340,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,990,052,000 after acquiring an additional 292,017 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 11.1% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,630,127,000 after purchasing an additional 435,358 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,015,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,636,052,000 after purchasing an additional 47,128 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,310,762,000 after purchasing an additional 46,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $942,640,000 after purchasing an additional 22,311 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total transaction of $22,529,340.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,041.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,041.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,010.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,036.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $972.23.

View Our Latest Stock Report on BlackRock

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $990.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $899.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $831.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $996.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.19 billion, a PE ratio of 25.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.30 by $1.16. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.73 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

BlackRock Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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