Proficio Capital Partners LLC Has $634,000 Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares during the quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned approximately 0.41% of BlackRock worth $634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Barclays cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $947.96 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $994.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $985.86. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market cap of $146.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

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.