Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Increases Position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 20.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 645 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.1%

BLK stock opened at $1,104.80 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,013.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $972.65. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,119.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.83%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $10.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Company 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.