Yousif Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,723 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $18,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 112.9% during the first quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 602 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter valued at $2,876,000. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 6.2% during the first quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 309 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 11.7% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,561 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,418,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. grew its stake in BlackRock by 35.1% during the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 77 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $56,261,628.34. This trade represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $988.81 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $752.30 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $925.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $972.43. The stock has a market cap of $153.19 billion, a PE ratio of 23.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on BLK shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,082.46.

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.