BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by German American Bancorp Inc.

German American Bancorp Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 771 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 1.1% of German American Bancorp Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $10,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,024.67 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $978.33 and its 200-day moving average is $876.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The company has a market capitalization of $158.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $718.72 and a fifty-two week high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.91 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate 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.