Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Purchases New Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 335 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $343,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CX Institutional increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 425 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,044,000 after buying an additional 1,353 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 816 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,779 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 29,339 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,858,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $973.22 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $150.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,020.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $972.03.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.