Cedar Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 42 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4 %

BLK opened at $950.43 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $980.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $988.41.

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 return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.