Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Purchases 377 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,500 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,217 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $22,044,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 899 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $854,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 46,834 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $44,470,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 573 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $766,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK traded down $14.41 during trading on Friday, hitting $974.97. 1,253,611 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 821,976. The firm has a market cap of $151.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's fifty day moving average is $1,011.61 and its 200 day moving average is $977.04. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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 note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently 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.