Blueprint Investment Partners LLC Has $493,000 Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Blueprint Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 39.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 481 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $338,000. Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $4,023,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,312,000. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,195,000. Finally, Umpqua Bank raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 3,568 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,437,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $950.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $980.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $988.41. The firm has a market cap of $147.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a PEG 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.