SouthState Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

SouthState Corp lifted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after acquiring an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after buying an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,130,330,000 after acquiring an additional 160,323 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $957.84 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $148.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $982.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $987.43.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

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.