Townsquare Capital LLC Buys 857 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,073 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 857 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% during the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 328 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,424 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,251,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,979 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,829,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 0.7% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

BLK opened at $1,019.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $725.86 and a 12 month high of $1,068.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $991.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $885.16. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BLK. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

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.