Truist Financial Corp Purchases 3,003 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 217,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,003 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.14% of BlackRock worth $222,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $973.22 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1,019.28 and a 200-day moving average of $974.18. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.