USA Financial Formulas Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $627,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $818,000. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $681,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,082.46.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.1%

BLK opened at $993.30 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $153.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $931.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $972.72. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $758.20 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.81 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.