BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Acquired by Midwest Professional Planners LTD.

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the period. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares during the last quarter. Amundi acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $330,662,000. Finally, National Pension Service acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $322,097,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $900.50 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $139.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $985.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $985.29.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.