Norges Bank Takes $2.36 Billion Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 2,298,638 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,356,357,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5 %

BLK stock opened at $968.79 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $980.33 and a 200 day moving average of $990.36.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

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.