National Wealth Management Group LLC Purchases Shares of 687 BlackRock $BLK

National Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 687 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $801,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 450.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 1,000.0% in the third quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 107.1% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 87.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,130.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33. The business has a 50-day moving average of $1,077.56 and a 200-day moving average of $1,107.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 22.93%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $11.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $5.73 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,313.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,351.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,314.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total transaction of $31,675,823.58. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,363,724.98. This represents a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total transaction of $22,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,630,750. This represents a 24.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,305 shares of company stock worth $55,488,396. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.