BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Bought by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 168,258 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,591 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises about 1.5% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.11% of BlackRock worth $172,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $912.43 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $990.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $986.42. The company has a market cap of $141.66 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.