BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stock Holdings Lifted by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. United Bank lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,310 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,789,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 3,923 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,725,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Okabena Investment Services Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 1,548 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 14,622 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,883,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BLK. Citigroup raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $950.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The company has a market cap of $147.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $980.77 and a 200-day moving average of $989.13. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock 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.