Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 3,183 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,263,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $219,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $259,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $7,433,000. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $337,000. Finally, Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $493,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of BLK opened at $998.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $154.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $752.30 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $919.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $978.24.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

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.