ARS Investment Partners LLC Grows Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 543 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $10,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Reliant Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,610,000. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,774,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,803,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $493,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on 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. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9 %

BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $1,027.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $948.40.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.