BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Acquired by Argent Trust Co

Argent Trust Co increased its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 28.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,893 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,272 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $66,000. Vestcor Inc increased its position in BlackRock by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 2,932 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,784,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $625,000. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 66.5% in the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 443 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 0.8% in the third quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,428 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,154,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 value of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,099.62.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK traded down $31.65 during trading on Thursday, hitting $865.43. The company had a trading volume of 42,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 682,134. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $947.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $988.95. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

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.