HighTower Advisors LLC Makes New $87.90 Million Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 85,751 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $87,904,000. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of BlackRock as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $909.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market cap of $141.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $987.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $985.88. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. 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. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.