1,595 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Purchased by GKV Capital Management Co. Inc.

GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,595 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,635,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $572,730,000. Amundi purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $343,976,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BLK. TD Cowen reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $866.65 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $934.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $986.36.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About BlackRock

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.