BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Montag A & Associates Inc.

Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,877 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.4 %

BlackRock stock traded up $11.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $789.52. 654,796 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 621,527. The company has a market cap of $117.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $795.72 and a 200-day moving average of $768.60. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,987 shares of company stock valued at $55,353,400 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.