BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 569 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its stake in BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% during the third 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 period. Finally, FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $762.88 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $113.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $802.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $761.81. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $7.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.