Metis Global Partners LLC Acquires 360 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Xcel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $731,000. Providence First Trust Co grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Providence First Trust Co now owns 2,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,786,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Williamson Legacy Group LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Williamson Legacy Group LLC now owns 716 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 1,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,948,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reduced 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. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $979.44 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,003.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $980.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. 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 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

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.