Martingale Asset Management L P Invests $299,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 292 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 32,748 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $33,570,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 1,833 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Tandem Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $637,000. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 3,687 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,780,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, German American Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. now owns 11,071 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,349,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Remove Ads

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK traded down $21.79 on Wednesday, reaching $866.65. The company had a trading volume of 456,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 683,297. 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 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $937.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $987.19.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. This is a boost from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.