Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $19.70 Million Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,214 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $19,696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in BlackRock by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 31,520 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $330,000. Avitas Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,876 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,948,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,284,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in BlackRock by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,515 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,553,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,017.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,026.10 and a 200 day moving average of $965.17. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $157.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock 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.