SlateStone Wealth LLC Acquires 576 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

SlateStone Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,508 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises approximately 1.0% of SlateStone Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 146 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 130.2% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 8,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,556,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 579 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $232,000. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $267,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $766.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.18 billion, a PE ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $803.96 and a 200 day moving average of $759.31. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.42.

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.