BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Acquired by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 824,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 42,084 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $845,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in BlackRock by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,432,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,793,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,038,000 after buying an additional 4,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 39,539 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,532,000 after buying an additional 12,864 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $950.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,103.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $817.17 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $964.53 and its 200-day moving average is $991.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

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.