Stifel Financial Corp Purchases 18,634 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 172,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,634 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.11% of BlackRock worth $176,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $572,730,000. Amundi bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $343,976,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,077.08.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $855.56 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $927.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $985.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $748.02 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.63%.

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.