Sava Infond d.o.o. Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $8,275,000. BlackRock comprises about 1.5% of Sava Infond d.o.o.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. United Bank boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in BlackRock by 1,150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $105,000. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 467 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 27.5% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,609 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $968.79 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $980.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $990.36. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

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.