Mizuho Securities USA LLC Purchases 4,769 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 52.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,798 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,769 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 8,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,762,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC now owns 248 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $1,658,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 4,901 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,024,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of BLK opened at $950.43 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $980.77 and its 200 day moving average is $987.70. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

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.