Capital International Sarl Grows Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Capital International Sarl boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,302 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares during the quarter. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,611,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,072,787,000 after buying an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after buying an additional 26,485 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $2,356,357,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,130,330,000 after acquiring an additional 160,323 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $875.86 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $932.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $985.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.81 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

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.