Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Buys 578 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 578 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.6 %

BLK stock opened at $958.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1,007.50 and its 200-day moving average is $980.38.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.