7,744 Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Bought by HTLF Bank

HTLF Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,744 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $6,287,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,037,009,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 104,159.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 697,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $494,269,000 after acquiring an additional 696,830 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 77,524.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 641,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,211,390,000 after buying an additional 641,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,361,064,000 after purchasing an additional 379,631 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 84.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 744,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $481,486,000 after purchasing an additional 340,792 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total transaction of $353,299.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,366,142.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

BlackRock Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE BLK traded up $2.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $749.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 196,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 621,383. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $805.96 and a 200 day moving average of $755.13. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.93 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.