Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Boosts Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,004 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.83, for a total value of $18,824,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,023,421.24. This trade represents a 67.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 108,190 shares of company stock valued at $113,161,681 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,058.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The company has a market capitalization of $163.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,013.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $902.97. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on BLK. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday, December 7th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,039.17.

BlackRock 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.