BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Acquired by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,463 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 513 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $53,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after purchasing an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in BlackRock by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,130,330,000 after purchasing an additional 160,323 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BLK. Citigroup lifted their price objective 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. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $947.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $994.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $984.14.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. Equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given 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 yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

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.