Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Has $374,000 Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 365 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 44 shares during the quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,200,450,000 after buying an additional 93,844 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,072,787,000 after buying an additional 190,188 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after buying an additional 26,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,356,357,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $855.56 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $132.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $927.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $985.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $748.02 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on BLK. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.