Evoke Wealth LLC Boosts Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Evoke Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 84.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,491 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Birchbrook Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 866.7% in the third quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total value of $417,690.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,335 shares in the company, valued at $3,618,174.85. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 45,249 shares of company stock valued at $47,671,714 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,269.06.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,073.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $166.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,018.09 and a 200 day moving average of $1,054.00. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $917.39 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.BlackRock’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.