Warm Springs Advisors Inc. Takes $745,000 Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Warm Springs Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 727 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $745,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $13,712,493,000 after acquiring an additional 68,405 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,450,475,000 after purchasing an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,356,357,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $964.56 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $920.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $977.70. The stock has a market cap of $149.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $752.30 and a fifty-two week 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.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen dropped 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus 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 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.