Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $23,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 938 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $781,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in BlackRock by 15.7% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 532 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $70,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $86,282,000. Finally, PGGM Investments grew its position in BlackRock by 204.2% in the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 4,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,414,000 after acquiring an additional 2,749 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This represents a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,019.45 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $991.35 and a 200-day moving average of $885.16. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $725.86 and a 52-week high of $1,068.34. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.35%.

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.