MML Investors Services LLC Acquires 1,963 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,963 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $72,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 3.7% in the third quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,311,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,496,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.2 %

BlackRock stock opened at $875.86 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $748.02 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The business has a fifty day moving average of $930.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $985.65. The firm has a market cap of $135.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.