Fiduciary Trust Co Boosts Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Fiduciary Trust Co raised its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 37.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,542 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,766 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 532 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter worth $70,000. PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 204.2% in the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 4,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,414,000 after acquiring an additional 2,749 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 219.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 44,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,737,000 after acquiring an additional 30,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 89.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 12,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,316,000 after purchasing an additional 5,840 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,019.45 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $725.86 and a 1-year high of $1,068.34. The stock has a market cap of $157.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $993.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $886.09.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.