288 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Purchased by West Coast Financial LLC

West Coast Financial LLC bought a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 288 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its stake in BlackRock by 208.3% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.6 %

BLK opened at $794.39 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $777.24 and a 200 day moving average of $792.54. The company has a market cap of $118.05 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.34. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.93 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.