National Bank of Canada FI Purchases 446 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 50,206 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $40,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 671.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 436 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 26.9% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in BlackRock by 9.7% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 90,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,796,000 after acquiring an additional 8,031 shares during the period. Finally, Middleton & Co. Inc. MA increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 11.0% in the third quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 855 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,849,424.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of BlackRock 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares in the company, valued at $6,849,424.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 71,087 shares of company stock worth $57,814,366. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock traded up $4.88 on Monday, hitting $768.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 182,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 615,983. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $797.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $766.29. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The firm has a market cap of $114.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.