Lido Advisors LLC Purchases 15,503 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Lido Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 74.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,412 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 15,503 shares during the quarter. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $42,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Westerkirk Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,877,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $6,201,000. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $700,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in BlackRock by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 256,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $269,591,000 after acquiring an additional 19,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in BlackRock by 6,347.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 42,234 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $49,239,000 after acquiring an additional 41,579 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,514.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Freedom Capital upgraded BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,313.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,308.89.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $922.79 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,075.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,092.23. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.53 billion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.78% and a net margin of 22.93%.BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $11.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 64.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total transaction of $31,675,823.58. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,363,724.98. The trade was a 71.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total value of $22,500,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,630,750. This represents a 24.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 111,319 shares of company stock valued at $123,999,249 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.