Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 2.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 39,994 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $41,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at about $765,000. Horizon Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 2,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,541,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 423,020 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $400,380,000 after buying an additional 24,230 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Argus raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,313.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,088.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $1,092.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,088.31. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $11.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 53.59%.

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.