Principal Securities Inc. Increases Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 255 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $973.22 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $150.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.93 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,019.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $973.49.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. 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. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

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.