263 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Bought by Alhambra Investment Management LLC

Alhambra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 263 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at $115,000. United Bank grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 17.1% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 1,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 35.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in BlackRock by 11.7% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,452 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $820.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The firm has a market cap of $122.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $803.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $741.11. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.84 by $0.82. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.81% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.88%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at $3,366,142.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028 over the last three months. 1.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BlackRock from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $708.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $885.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $720.00 to $818.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $719.00 to $793.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 30th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $785.73.

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.