Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 68,405 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 8.64% of BlackRock worth $13,712,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,311,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Noesis Capital Mangement Corp grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 1,236 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $968.46. 479,116 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 629,460. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $979.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $990.21. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. 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 company has a market cap of $150.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock's payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

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.