US Asset Management LLC Makes New $478,000 Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

US Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 589 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $478,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,178,048,000 after purchasing an additional 104,844 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,148,586,000 after buying an additional 35,161 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,361,064,000 after buying an additional 379,631 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,015,535 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,636,212,000 after acquiring an additional 47,326 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,128,544,000 after purchasing an additional 307,516 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded up $5.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $794.14. The company had a trading volume of 287,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 617,956. The company has a market capitalization of $118.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $795.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $768.75. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,987 shares of company stock worth $55,353,400 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.