Fortem Financial Group LLC Acquires 43 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Fortem Financial Group LLC increased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 701 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 81.5% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock traded down $7.71 on Monday, reaching $1,013.12. 338,584 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 463,617. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,030.95 and a 200 day moving average of $934.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.91 billion, a PE ratio of 25.00, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $10.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 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. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,120.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,063.00.

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.