SouthState Corp Buys 126 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

SouthState Corp raised its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $334,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 9.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,576,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 3.8% in the third quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 1,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,419,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA boosted its position in BlackRock by 3.2% in the third quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target 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, UBS Group lifted 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 note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $957.84 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $982.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $987.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.