600 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Acquired by Summit Securities Group LLC

Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 600 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $615,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. United Bank boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 11,283 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,713,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in BlackRock by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 57,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,979,000 after buying an additional 2,711 shares during the period. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $5,792,000. Finally, Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.7% during the third quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 1,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Barclays decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $947.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $147.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $978.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $991.44.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.