First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Has $15.52 Million Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,116 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises 3.4% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Nikulski Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 314 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 671.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,244,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. now owns 2,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $762.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $113.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $802.08 and its 200 day moving average is $760.15. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.93 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total value of $2,460,966.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,849,424.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total value of $2,460,966.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,849,424.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Company 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.