Commerce Bank Grows Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Commerce Bank grew its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 38.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 9,690 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $28,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Banco de Sabadell S.A boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Banco de Sabadell S.A now owns 3,056 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $91,000. Union Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 515 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $355,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,956 shares of company stock valued at $57,252,931. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK traded up $1.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $785.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 176,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 603,525. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $790.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $781.53. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The stock has a market cap of $116.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

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.