Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Buys New Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 17,746 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $18,192,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. This trade represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.6%

BLK traded down $5.34 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $964.56. 517,434 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 693,933. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $920.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $976.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $752.30 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.81 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. Citigroup reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of 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. lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

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.