Jacobs & Co. CA Takes Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Jacobs & Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 198 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 156.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,839,000 after acquiring an additional 3,749 shares during the period. Prudential PLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 22.2% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 2,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,898,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 291,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $229,642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 89.2% in the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 123 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 37,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,682,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

BlackRock Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded down $28.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $957.12. 614,457 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 673,938. 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 market cap of $148.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,031.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $938.17. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,120.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,070.08.

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.