BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stock Position Raised by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,003 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 704 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $120,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $518,000. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,432,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in BlackRock by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,793,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $32,904,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,724,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of BLK opened at $956.47 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $981.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $987.59. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $148.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.18%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were 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 owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.