First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,627 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 93 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 96.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total transaction of $2,669,833.98. Following the transaction, the director now owns 70,378 shares in the company, valued at $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded down $3.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $750.90. 614,792 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 621,771. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The firm has a market cap of $111.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $800.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $763.59. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock 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.