Stonebridge Financial Group LLC Acquires New Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,378 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $4,488,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % 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 worth $115,163,141 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded up $2.47 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $988.02. 884,012 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 817,217. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,024.23 and a 200-day moving average of $971.03. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.