Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Purchases New Shares in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 286 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Emerald Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $851,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its position in BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 1,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 764 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $439,000. Finally, Patten & Patten Inc. TN bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of 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 report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $762.83 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $802.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $760.15. The company has a market cap of $113.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total transaction of $2,669,833.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.