Abbrea Capital LLC Raises Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Abbrea Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Morgan Stanley grew its position in BlackRock by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,178,048,000 after purchasing an additional 104,844 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,148,586,000 after purchasing an additional 35,161 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,361,064,000 after purchasing an additional 379,631 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,128,544,000 after buying an additional 307,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,568,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,014,287,000 after buying an additional 74,974 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total transaction of $2,669,833.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total transaction of $2,669,833.98. Following the sale, the director now owns 70,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price target (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK traded up $5.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $762.88. 447,905 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 625,928. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $845.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $802.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $759.32. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.