NorthRock Partners LLC Invests $1.64 Million in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,602 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,642,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,077.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,261,628.34. This trade represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249 in the last quarter. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded up $6.31 on Friday, reaching $989.39. 676,753 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 692,235. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $916.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $978.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $752.30 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market cap of $153.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.63%.

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.