Hilltop Holdings Inc. Acquires 3,164 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 201.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,731 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 10.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $115,377,000. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 174.8% during the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 184,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $145,096,000 after purchasing an additional 117,218 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,020.34 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $158.03 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $994.93 and a 200-day moving average of $888.81. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $742.22 and a one year high of $1,068.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $10.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.62.

About BlackRock

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.