Palisade Asset Management LLC Purchases 34 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. BlackRock accounts for 1.2% of Palisade Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,310,762,000 after buying an additional 46,728 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $942,640,000 after acquiring an additional 22,311 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 685,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $539,673,000 after purchasing an additional 17,087 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related 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 value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. This represents a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE BLK opened at $1,036.46 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $984.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $879.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $724.54 and a 52 week high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.91 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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 raised their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,019.62.

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.