Principle Wealth Partners LLC Has $4.71 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 538 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK traded up $5.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $762.88. 447,939 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 683,111. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $845.00. The company has a market cap of $113.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $802.08 and its 200 day moving average is $760.98.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BLK. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total transaction of $353,299.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other BlackRock news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at $4,691,032.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 520 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $784.69, for a total value of $408,038.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,256,463.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.