Norden Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Norden Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 652 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Citigroup raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Barclays dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.3 %

BLK stock opened at $965.18 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $149.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1,002.25 and its 200 day moving average is $983.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders 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 2.16%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.