Eschler Asset Management LLP Makes New $2.26 Million Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Eschler Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,204 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,259,000. BlackRock comprises approximately 5.3% of Eschler Asset Management LLP's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $29,432,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 4,210 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted 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 valued at $40,532,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,284,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BLK. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of 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 raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group decreased 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 report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded down $5.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $923.48. The stock had a trading volume of 684,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 686,149. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $913.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $978.40. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $752.30 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.81 earnings per share. BlackRock's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

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.