Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Has $97.80 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,402 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 15,605 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.06% of BlackRock worth $97,798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on BLK shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note 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, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 22,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,963,649. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.0 %

BLK traded up $0.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $913.79. 120,819 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 903,669. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $748.78 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $920.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $983.34. The stock has a market cap of $141.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.81 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. This is a boost from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

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.