Red Spruce Capital LLC Has $3.30 Million Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Red Spruce Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises about 1.5% of Red Spruce Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,724,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.7 %

BLK stock opened at $1,011.87 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,026.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $949.91. The company has a market cap of $156.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.