BNP Paribas Financial Markets Boosts Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 337,172 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 109,771 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $320,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 938 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 405.1% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,652 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,210,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 22.9% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,416,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 56,419 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,036,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 24.7% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 106 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. TD Cowen raised 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.8 %

BlackRock stock traded down $8.46 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $1,023.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 100,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 576,988. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $987.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $882.60. The company has a market cap of $158.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $724.54 and a fifty-two week high of $1,068.34. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $10.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

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.