Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 44.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 247 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of BLK traded down $8.13 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $791.48. 187,422 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 604,314. The firm has a market cap of $117.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $790.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $781.51.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 107,015 shares of company stock worth $86,751,357. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

About BlackRock

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.