Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $31.52 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 30,745 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $31,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. Barclays lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $947.48 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $978.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $990.69. The stock has a market cap of $147.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.