BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Capital Square LLC

Capital Square LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 248 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $572,730,000. Amundi acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $343,976,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.2 %

BLK stock opened at $875.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $135.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $932.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $985.86. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock 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 transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.