MQS Management LLC Acquires New Stake in BlackRock $BLK

MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 655 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $701,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Birchbrook Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 866.7% during the third quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 45,249 shares of company stock worth $47,671,714 in the last quarter. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,220.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,269.06.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,073.03 on Friday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $917.39 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The company has a market cap of $166.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 4.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1,018.09 and its 200 day moving average is $1,054.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The company had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.64 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 57.53%.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.