Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 31 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 603 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased 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 buying an additional 10 shares during the period. 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 raised its stake in BlackRock by 8.7% during the 4th 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. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% in the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 328 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,424 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,251,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE BLK opened at $985.24 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The company has a market capitalization of $152.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,024.93 and a 200 day moving average of $969.98.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. This is an increase 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 is presently 48.57%.

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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.