MQS Management LLC Invests $701,000 in BlackRock $BLK

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 655 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $701,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Birchbrook Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 866.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.06.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,073.03 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,018.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,054.00. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $917.39 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94. The company has a market cap of $166.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The business had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total transaction of $417,690.35. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,618,174.85. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the sale, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,249 shares of company stock valued at $47,671,714. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.