Clarius Group LLC Buys Shares of 782 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Clarius Group LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 782 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $802,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the second quarter worth approximately $383,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.0% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 10,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,235,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 131,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $103,355,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,027.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $946.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The company has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,103.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.