National Wealth Management Group LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock $BLK

National Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 687 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $801,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,991,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,680,334,000 after acquiring an additional 227,192 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,143,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,281,641,000 after acquiring an additional 34,049 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,644,007,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 105,267.4% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,789,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,244.00 to $1,267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,313.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,314.71.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,130.09 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1,077.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,107.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The company has a market capitalization of $175.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.47.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 22.93%.The company’s revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $11.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total transaction of $22,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,630,750. The trade was a 24.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total transaction of $31,675,823.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $12,363,724.98. This represents a 71.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 48,305 shares of company stock valued at $55,488,396 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.