Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases New Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 46,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $47,773,000. BlackRock accounts for about 0.4% of Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $822.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $968.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $991.65. The company has a market capitalization of $127.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, March 29th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,130.85.

About BlackRock

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.