KBC Group NV Purchases Shares of 14,119 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

KBC Group NV bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 14,119 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $14,473,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. 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 MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK traded up $14.51 on Thursday, hitting $1,067.12. 306,789 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 777,361. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The business's fifty day moving average is $1,024.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $959.65. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

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, topping 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 return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors 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 yield of 1.95%. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

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.