Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Has $26.80 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,141 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 303 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $26,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in BlackRock by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $29,432,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in BlackRock by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $12,793,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $67,038,000 after acquiring an additional 4,210 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 39,539 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $40,532,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 note on Monday, April 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays raised their price target on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction 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 approximately $56,261,628.34. This trade represents a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $12,838,649 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock traded down $7.98 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $908.28. 444,438 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 684,264. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $922.02 and a 200 day moving average of $983.49. The firm has a market cap of $141.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $748.78 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.81 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock's payout ratio 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.