Taika Capital LP Makes New $379,000 Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Taika Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 370 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Amundi bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $330,662,000. Finally, National Pension Service bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $322,097,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $947.96 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $994.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $985.86. The stock has a market cap of $146.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.57, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on BLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.