Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Purchases 95 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. AJOVista LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. Baxter Bros Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $292,000. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Finally, W Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. W Advisors LLC now owns 637 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK traded up $6.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $763.91. The stock had a trading volume of 558,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 689,289. The company has a market cap of $113.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $797.35 and a 200 day moving average of $764.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 72,057 shares of company stock worth $58,575,704. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. TD Cowen raised shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

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.