343,739 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Acquired by Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.

Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 343,739 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $343,976,000. BlackRock makes up 4.2% of Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. owned 0.22% of BlackRock at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 36.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.0% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,864 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,214,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Next Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $214,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 206,265 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $162,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter worth $465,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 2.1 %

BLK opened at $1,051.91 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,024.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $958.99. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market cap of $162.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.