KCM Investment Advisors LLC Invests $2.48 Million in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,481,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,618,000. ROI Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $561,000. Riverwater Partners LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $517,000. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR now owns 9,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,033,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $439,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 7.4 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $822.38 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The company has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $968.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $992.26.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price 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. Citigroup increased their price target 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. decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,130.85.

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.