Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Takes $13.71 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 13,374 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $13,710,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,496,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America cut their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $6.31 on Friday, hitting $989.39. The company had a trading volume of 676,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 692,235. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $752.30 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $916.06 and a 200-day moving average of $978.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249 over the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock 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.