Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 2,298,638 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,298,638 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,356,357,000. Norges Bank owned 1.48% of BlackRock at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $518,000. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,432,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in BlackRock by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,793,000 after buying an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,904,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in BlackRock by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,038,000 after purchasing an additional 4,210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $968.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $980.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $990.36. The firm has a market cap of $150.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two 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.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.