Empirical Finance LLC Raises Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,973 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,047.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $155.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $697.70 and a 1 year high of $1,068.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $962.02 and its 200 day moving average is $866.74.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $10.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,019.62.

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.