Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $534,000 Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 521 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $534,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,663,330,000 after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,081,561,000 after acquiring an additional 40,865 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,310,762,000 after purchasing an additional 46,728 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock traded down $5.48 on Wednesday, reaching $1,006.61. 424,994 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 796,481. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $1,025.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $951.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.90 billion, a PE ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock's revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.