Sarasin & Partners LLP Acquires 21,961 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 258,204 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 21,961 shares during the period. BlackRock makes up approximately 2.9% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned 0.17% of BlackRock worth $264,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after purchasing an additional 42,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,663,330,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after acquiring an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,310,762,000 after acquiring an additional 46,728 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9 %

BlackRock stock traded up $8.51 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $1,004.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,079,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 610,586. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market cap of $155.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $1,027.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $948.40.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

BlackRock 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.