Strong Tower Advisory Services Has $1.49 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Everett Harris & Co. CA lifted its stake in BlackRock by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 3,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,879,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 5,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,173,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,406 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,765,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbia Trust Co 01012016 lifted its stake in BlackRock by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 3,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,698,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 over the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. UBS Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $720.00 to $818.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut BlackRock from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $708.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $885.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $719.00 to $793.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $785.73.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $832.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $805.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $742.68. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The firm has a market cap of $124.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.84 by $0.82. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 30.81%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.81 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.88%.

BlackRock 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.