BlackRock $BLK Shares Bought by Korea Investment CORP

Key Points

• Korea Investment CORP increased its stake in BlackRock shares by 2.9%, acquiring an additional 3,772 shares to reach a total of 133,641 shares valued at approximately $126.49 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have significantly boosted their holdings, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its stake by a staggering 104,598.9%, now owning 3.5 million shares worth over $3.31 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $5.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.8%, scheduled for payment on September 23rd.

Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 133,641 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 3,772 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.09% of BlackRock worth $126,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,312,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496,740 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 401.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,122,743,000 after acquiring an additional 876,836 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,100,163 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,152,907,000 after acquiring an additional 329,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,071,339,000 after acquiring an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,135.88 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The stock's 50-day moving average is $1,071.38 and its 200-day moving average is $988.76. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,171.89. The company has a market cap of $175.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

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.

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