BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Bought by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 18.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,100,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 329,244 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up approximately 0.6% of Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.36% of BlackRock worth $2,152,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $56,261,628.34. This trade represents a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $928.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market cap of $144.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $916.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $981.14. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $752.30 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22.

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

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.