Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Acquires 11,543 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 42.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,689 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,543 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $26,740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Archer Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 48.6% during the first quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 52 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 77.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $781.00 to $754.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $921.00 to $868.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on BlackRock from $814.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on BlackRock from $736.00 to $708.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $764.75.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $720.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a current ratio of 3.72. The business’s fifty day moving average is $652.37 and its 200 day moving average is $676.96. The company has a market capitalization of $107.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $781.77.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 13th. The asset manager reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.34 by $2.57. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.66% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 36.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 7th will be given a $5.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 6th. This represents a $20.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 56.10%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 15,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.03, for a total value of $10,031,481.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 435,260 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,802,577.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.