BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 86.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 602 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $617,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $13,158,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 13,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,336,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,758 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,154,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 116.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $944.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,004.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $979.94. 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 $146.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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 will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.