Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $18.67 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,723 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $18,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 112.9% during the first quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in BlackRock during the first quarter worth approximately $2,876,000. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 6.2% during the first quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 309 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 11.7% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,561 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,418,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 35.1% during the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 77 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,035.00 to $1,105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,082.46.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded up $1.40 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $993.30. 645,046 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 689,459. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $758.20 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The stock's 50-day moving average is $927.88 and its 200-day moving average is $972.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market cap of $153.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its 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 analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

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

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.