Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Raises Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,745 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $31,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $947.48 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $978.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $990.69. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. 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 $147.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of 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. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

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.