CWA Asset Management Group LLC Has $731,000 Holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 44.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 772 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,245,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 7.5% during the first quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 258 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.6% during the first quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,012,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.7% during the first quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,690,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marest Capital LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 3.9% during the first quarter. Marest Capital LLC now owns 401 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays increased their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,096.31.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $974.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.34, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $948.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $970.38. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $150.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.63%.

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.