Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Invests $329,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. State Street Corp boosted its stake in BlackRock by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after acquiring an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,663,330,000 after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after purchasing an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,130,330,000 after buying an additional 160,323 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $979.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $151.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,003.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $981.81. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.