Amundi Buys New Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Amundi bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 536,246 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $528,792,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $947.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $994.60 and a 200-day moving average of $985.00. The company has a market capitalization of $146.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently 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.