Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Purchases 83 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,156 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $330,662,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $115,377,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.3 %

NYSE BLK opened at $951.45 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $147.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1,009.33 and its 200 day moving average is $979.66.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

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.