North Star Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

North Star Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $760.05 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $804.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $758.48. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The company has a market capitalization of $113.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.