Metis Global Partners LLC Raises Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,427 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 35.8% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,732 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 219.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 44,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,737,000 after acquiring an additional 30,274 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $161,918,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 62.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,804,000 after buying an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 20.8% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,333 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,256,000 after buying an additional 3,675 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $1,030.98 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $673.00 and a fifty-two week high of $1,068.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $962.02 and a 200 day moving average of $866.74.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.