Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 6,216 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 85,267 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,216 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $87,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Amundi bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $343,976,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $330,662,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. 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 report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $968.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $150.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $979.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $990.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 owned by company insiders.

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.