Arizona State Retirement System Takes $40.87 Million Position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Arizona State Retirement System bought a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 43,179 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $40,868,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 76.5% during the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on 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. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,132.29.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.1%

BLK stock traded down $1.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,102.63. The company had a trading volume of 545,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 693,726. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,105.72. The company has a market cap of $170.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $996.68 and a 200 day moving average of $971.61.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.09% and a return on equity of 15.57%. BlackRock's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

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.