W Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

W Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 637 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the quarter. W Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its stake in BlackRock by 208.3% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total transaction of $2,460,966.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,849,424.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total transaction of $2,460,966.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares in the company, valued at $6,849,424.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $784.69, for a total transaction of $408,038.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,256,463.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 72,057 shares of company stock valued at $58,575,704 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded up $6.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $763.91. The stock had a trading volume of 558,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 689,289. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $797.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $764.35. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.