State of Michigan Retirement System Raises Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

State of Michigan Retirement System grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $42,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 39.0% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 709 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $701,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 64.3% during the 3rd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,979 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,829,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 34,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,612,000 after acquiring an additional 2,836 shares during the period. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $965.18 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,002.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $983.33. 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 firm has a market cap of $149.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock 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 transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.