Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 370 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 370 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Baxter Bros Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 107.2% in the first quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 2,327 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,202,000 after buying an additional 1,204 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 0.5% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,289 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,899,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 21.8% during the first quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 1,033 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 25.7% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 3,273 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 145,500.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $977.79 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $752.30 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $922.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $974.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share 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 dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on 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. Bank of America cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,077.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,261,628.34. The trade was a 2.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.