Sarasin & Partners LLP Increases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 258,204 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 21,961 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up about 2.9% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned 0.17% of BlackRock worth $264,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at $31,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,103.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $155.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,027.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $947.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 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 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

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.