BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 398,790 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 4,070 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.26% of BlackRock worth $408,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% in the third quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its position in BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,496,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target 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. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $12,838,649. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 2.7 %

BLK stock traded up $23.84 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $916.38. 619,665 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 922,702. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $748.02 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $924.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $983.94. 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 posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.81 EPS. BlackRock's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is 50.63%.

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.