Schroder Investment Management Group Purchases 5,527 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 228,975 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 5,527 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned about 0.15% of BlackRock worth $185,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,181,346,000 after buying an additional 749,654 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in BlackRock by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,853,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279,952 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,178,048,000 after purchasing an additional 104,844 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,471,621 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,006,490,000 after buying an additional 58,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $1,812,920,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.6 %

BLK traded down $4.71 during trading on Friday, hitting $768.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 468,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 545,611. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $780.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $789.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The stock has a market cap of $114.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.34. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. BlackRock's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $845.42.

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.