BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Natixis Advisors L.P.

Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 80,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,032 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $65,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 21,011 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,583,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $318,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 3,915 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,531,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in BlackRock by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 3,522 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 72,057 shares of company stock valued at $58,575,704. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of BLK stock traded up $6.91 during trading on Friday, hitting $763.91. 555,740 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 621,157. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $798.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $763.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.93 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

BlackRock Company 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.