Little House Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 1,243 BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Little House Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,243 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,176,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 127 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 257 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 123 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BLK. Barclays upped their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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. UBS Group cut their price target on 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. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,102.08.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,049.35 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $962.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $969.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.41. 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 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The company's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. BlackRock's payout ratio is 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.

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