Mariner LLC Purchases 1,801 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Mariner LLC grew its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 109,911 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 1,801 shares during the period. Mariner LLC owned approximately 0.07% of BlackRock worth $112,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK traded down $21.79 on Wednesday, reaching $866.65. The stock had a trading volume of 591,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 938,862. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $937.25 and a 200-day moving average of $987.19. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $134.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BLK. Citigroup dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Monday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,077.08.

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.