Advisors Asset Management Inc. Acquires 125 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,987 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in BlackRock by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 7,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,813,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in BlackRock by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 803 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $823,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,657,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Wealth Architects LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $322,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays reduced 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 research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $957.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $148.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $982.52 and its 200 day moving average is $987.43. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week 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. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during 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%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

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.