Blue Chip Partners LLC Acquires 699 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Blue Chip Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,205 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises approximately 2.0% of Blue Chip Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $19,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,178,048,000 after acquiring an additional 104,844 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,148,586,000 after acquiring an additional 35,161 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,361,064,000 after acquiring an additional 379,631 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,128,544,000 after acquiring an additional 307,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,568,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,014,287,000 after acquiring an additional 74,974 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Martin Small sold 7,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $786.36, for a total value of $5,532,828.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,135,467.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7 %

BlackRock stock traded up $5.23 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $762.88. 447,939 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 683,111. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $802.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $761.81. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.93 EPS. Research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.