Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,003 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 704 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.08% of BlackRock worth $120,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. United Bank lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 9.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,455,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in BlackRock by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 5,681 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,403,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.
BLK stock opened at $956.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $981.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $987.59.
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock's payout ratio is 49.62%.
In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.
BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.
View Our Latest Analysis on BLK
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.
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