BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,660 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 992 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $1,037,009,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 696,830 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 77,524.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 641,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,211,390,000 after purchasing an additional 641,128 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 22.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 84.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 744,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $481,486,000 after purchasing an additional 340,792 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK traded down $6.49 on Thursday, reaching $747.30. 614,588 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 627,257. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $806.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $755.19. 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 company has a market cap of $111.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.