Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 6,216 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,267 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,216 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.06% of BlackRock worth $87,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,356,357,000. Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $53,945,000. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $411,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 5,933 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in BlackRock by 301.7% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 28,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,712,000 after purchasing an additional 21,036 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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. Barclays dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $968.46 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $979.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $990.21. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $150.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during 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 period last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.