BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service lifted its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLKFree Report) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 306,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,073 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $357,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westerkirk Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,877,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its position in BlackRock by 7.9% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 23,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth $6,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 8.2% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 256,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $269,591,000 after buying an additional 19,404 shares during the period. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 29.3% in the third quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 6,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,867,000 after buying an additional 1,529 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,117.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,088.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,107.67. The stock has a market cap of $173.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLKGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 22.93%.BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $11.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 58.84%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total value of $22,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,630,750. This represents a 24.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total transaction of $31,675,823.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $12,363,724.98. This represents a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,305 shares of company stock valued at $55,488,396. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Argus increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group set a $1,280.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,313.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,314.71.

View Our Latest Stock Report on BLK

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

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BlackRock Company Profile

(Free Report)

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

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