Rafferty Asset Management LLC Raises Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 51,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,151 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $52,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction 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 $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $965.81 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $752.30 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $149.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $913.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $978.07.

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

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.