BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,963 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $72,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Invst LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,312,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $225,000. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $399,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $751,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $875.86 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $930.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $985.65. 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 $748.02 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $135.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

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.