Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Grows Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 129 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 1.9% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after acquiring an additional 40,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in BlackRock by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,130,330,000 after acquiring an additional 160,323 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $953.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $147.66 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1,006.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $980.19. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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, topping 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 business earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.