CX Institutional Increases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

CX Institutional increased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 442 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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 research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,020.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,024.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $953.90. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45. The company has a market capitalization of $158.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.