Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases Shares of 46,603 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 46,603 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $47,773,000. BlackRock comprises 0.4% of Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $572,730,000. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 549 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $563,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Aviva PLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 89,233 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $91,474,000 after purchasing an additional 26,748 shares in the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,481,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,618,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $950.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,103.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $4.17 on Wednesday, hitting $819.89. The stock had a trading volume of 615,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 680,367. The stock has a market cap of $127.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company's 50 day moving average price is $955.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $989.88. 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 Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

About BlackRock

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.