Northern Financial Advisors Inc Increases Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Northern Financial Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 49.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 834 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Northern Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $677,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 671.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 8.2% in the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 436 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 26.9% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in BlackRock by 9.7% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 90,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $56,796,000 after purchasing an additional 8,031 shares during the period. Finally, Middleton & Co. Inc. MA raised its position in BlackRock by 11.0% in the third quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 855 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK traded down $2.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $777.98. The company had a trading volume of 304,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 617,087. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The company has a market cap of $115.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $796.34 and a 200-day moving average of $768.53.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 67,987 shares of company stock valued at $55,353,400. Insiders own 0.90% 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.