EP Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 60,780 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $62,306,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 533 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $547,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $239,000. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 400 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. now owns 504 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $517,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 156.6% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 213 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BLK. Bank of America lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.6 %

BLK stock traded down $5.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $923.48. 684,779 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 685,833. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $752.30 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $913.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $978.51.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

About BlackRock

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.