Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Invests $154,000 in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 150 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $154,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $518,000. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,432,000 after buying 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 fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,793,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $32,904,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in BlackRock by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,038,000 after acquiring an additional 4,210 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday, March 21st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $968.79 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $980.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $990.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

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.