Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Raises Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 3,915 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,531,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 3,522 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 72,382 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Finally, Kowal Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.5% in the third quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 611 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total transaction of $353,299.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 72,057 shares of company stock valued at $58,575,704 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded up $6.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $763.91. The company had a trading volume of 558,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 689,289. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $797.35 and its 200 day moving average is $764.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.