Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Purchases 1,344 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 41.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,344 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,432,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,793,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $32,904,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $912.43 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $990.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $986.42. The company has a market capitalization of $141.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.