Caprock Group LLC Purchases 331 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Caprock Group LLC 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 3,969 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,069,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price 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. Citigroup raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Saturday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $4.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,075.83. 957,428 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 724,184. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.63 billion, a PE ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,026.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $962.18. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a positive change 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 48.57%.

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.