Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. Buys 538 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $17,784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,311,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,496,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,130.85.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 7.4 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $822.38 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $968.78 and a 200 day moving average of $992.74. The firm has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS 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 $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

About BlackRock

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.