Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,463 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $53,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 8.3% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,399,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $226,000. TFB Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $221,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 4,834 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,590,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $947.96 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $994.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $984.14. The company has a market cap of $146.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.