Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 322 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,077.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $964.56 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $752.30 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $149.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $920.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $977.34.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.63%.

BlackRock 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.