Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Has $15.25 Million Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,874 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. BlackRock accounts for approximately 1.3% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $2,356,357,000. Blair William & Co. IL bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $53,945,000. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $411,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 5,933 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in BlackRock by 301.7% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 28,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,712,000 after buying an additional 21,036 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $968.46 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. The company has a market capitalization of $150.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $979.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $990.21. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on BLK. UBS Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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 note on Monday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

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.