Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Boosts Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 131,980 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 10,700 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.09% of BlackRock worth $135,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $572,730,000. Amundi purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $343,976,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BLK shares. Barclays lifted their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Up 4.0 %

BlackRock stock opened at $887.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $926.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $984.56. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $748.02 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. BlackRock's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. This is an increase from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

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.

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