Kentucky Retirement Systems Invests $9.54 Million in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Kentucky Retirement Systems purchased a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 10,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $9,543,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 2,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,152,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $215,000. Finally, Redmond Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 1,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,645,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Argus upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,028.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen cut 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 report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup cut 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 report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,096.31.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $974.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.34, a current ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $150.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $948.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $969.93.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.09% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. 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 2.14%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.63%.

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.