HUB Investment Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 343 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. United Bank raised its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in BlackRock by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,260 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,096,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 10,795 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,250,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,310 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,789,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $950.43 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. 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 cap of $147.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $980.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $987.70.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average 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.