Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 68,405 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,405 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of BlackRock worth $13,712,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Amundi acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $330,662,000. Finally, National Pension Service bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $322,097,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $950.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $980.77 and a 200 day moving average of $988.41. The company has a market cap of $147.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price 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. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Company 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.