Welch Group LLC Has $712,000 Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Welch Group LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 15.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 750 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $712,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% during the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 328 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,424 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,251,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.6% in the second quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 473 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc increased its holdings in BlackRock by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,042 shares of company stock worth $56,857,777 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $995.31.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded up $12.17 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $986.24. 57,821 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 571,292. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The stock has a market cap of $146.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $600.26 and a 52 week high of $1,032.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $928.50 and its 200-day moving average is $844.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.73 EPS for the current year.

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.