BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $330,662,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $115,377,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $974.97 on Monday. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,011.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $978.98.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

BlackRock Company 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.