First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 594 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,116 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up about 3.4% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Emerald Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $851,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 1,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $712,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 764 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $439,000. Finally, Patten & Patten Inc. TN bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $205,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price target (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the sale, the director now owns 70,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the sale, the director now owns 70,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total transaction of $353,299.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $762.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $802.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $760.15. The firm has a market cap of $113.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.