Waterfront Wealth Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,549 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Waterfront Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,588,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.8% in the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 996 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 12,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,427,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $990.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $153.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,013.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $976.04. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid 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 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s 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 value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

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.