BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,268 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $115,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 202.3% during the 4th quarter. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,128 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,934 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,159,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $662,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 4,027.5% during the 4th quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,041 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,594,000 after buying an additional 21,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. now owns 2,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,137,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $947.96 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $994.60 and its 200-day moving average is $984.14. The stock has a market cap of $146.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock 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.