BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 168,258 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,591 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises approximately 1.5% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $172,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target 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. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $912.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $990.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $986.42. The company has a market cap of $141.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

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.