Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Buys Shares of 13,374 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $13,710,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,450,475,000 after purchasing an additional 26,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,356,357,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $923.48 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $752.30 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $913.01 and a 200-day moving average of $978.40.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. The trade was a 2.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.