Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 4,568 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 130.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,568 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Nikulski Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 314 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Marion Wealth Management grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.8% during the third quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 2,192 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $766.68 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $803.96 and its 200 day moving average is $759.31. The stock has a market cap of $114.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367 over the last three months. 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.