Nilsine Partners LLC Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Nilsine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,557 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,621,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,662,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $115,377,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,029.63 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,024.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $955.97. The company has a market cap of $159.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

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.