Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $23,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $115,377,000. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 174.8% in the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 184,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $145,096,000 after purchasing an additional 117,218 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This trade represents a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,019.45 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $991.35 and a 200 day moving average of $885.16. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $725.86 and a twelve month high of $1,068.34. The firm has a market cap of $157.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

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.