Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Makes New $313,000 Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 331 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $313,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 329.4% during the first quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 846 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $801,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,275,000. Donald L. Hagan LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Donald L. Hagan LLC now owns 1,401 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,326,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.6% during the first quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 868 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $821,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.7% in the first quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 25,984 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $24,594,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,082.46.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK traded down $17.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $971.24. The company had a trading volume of 674,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 689,208. 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 twelve month low of $759.99 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $150.47 billion, a PE ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $937.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $972.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.81 EPS. The company's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

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.