Ames National Corp Makes New $760,000 Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ames National Corp bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 741 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $760,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the fourth 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 grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the fourth 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 raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 26,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $2,356,357,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $998.24 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $752.30 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $919.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $978.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.77, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,261,628.34. The trade was a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249. Company 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.