Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 32 BlackRock $BLK

Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 32 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 23.1% in 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. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 10.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,500,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $542,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 4.2% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 19,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,145,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,160.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,141.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,046.27. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $11.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Argus upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,300.81.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.