GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 104,598.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. BlackRock makes up 0.6% of GAMMA Investing LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,312,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 923 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $877,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,473,000. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in BlackRock by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 231 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $208,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on 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. Barclays upped their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup decreased 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. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of BLK opened at $975.76 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $752.30 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $151.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $922.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $975.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.