Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. Acquires 538 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 538 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $17,784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Norges Bank purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $572,730,000. Amundi bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $343,976,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,130.85.

BlackRock Trading Down 7.4 %

BlackRock stock opened at $822.38 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $968.78 and its 200 day moving average is $992.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend 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.