Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Buys Shares of 272 BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 272 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,463 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $53,780,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the period. One Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 279 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Capital Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BLK. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Argus reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $1,164.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,108.62.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK traded up $12.09 on Wednesday, reaching $1,087.11. The stock had a trading volume of 337,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 792,191. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a current ratio of 4.34. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,088.77. The business's 50-day moving average price is $986.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $970.03. The stock has a market cap of $168.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.09% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The business's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

BlackRock 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.