Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Grows Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 579 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $593,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,663,330,000 after acquiring an additional 30,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after buying an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,310,762,000 after buying an additional 46,728 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 5.1 %

BlackRock stock opened at $1,012.62 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market cap of $156.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,029.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $943.81. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BLK. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,088.67.

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.