Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Buys Shares of 308 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 308 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $784.12 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $775.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $791.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company 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.