May Hill Capital LLC Purchases New Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares during the last quarter. Amundi purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $343,976,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $330,662,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $944.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $976.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $993.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 yield of 2.21%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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. Barclays decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Corporate 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.