Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 6,010 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,876 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 6,010 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $35,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $115,000. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 17.1% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 1,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $983,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,512,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 35.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $783,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in BlackRock by 11.7% in the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,452 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $749.98 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $111.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $805.02 and a 200-day moving average of $757.63. 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 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released 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 business had revenue of $4.73 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect 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.