Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Trims Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 21.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,234 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,703 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 817 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division boosted its position in BlackRock by 0.5% during the third quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 1,794 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,092,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.6% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,444 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. PUREfi Wealth LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.0% in the third quarter. PUREfi Wealth LLC now owns 460 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 938 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $984,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,235.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,244.00 to $1,267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. CICC Research lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,351.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,308.89.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,069.56, for a total value of $240,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,661 shares in the company, valued at $6,054,779.16. This trade represents a 3.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total value of $417,690.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,335 shares in the company, valued at $3,618,174.85. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 111,319 shares of company stock worth $123,999,249 in the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $971.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.14 billion, a PE ratio of 27.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $1,069.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,089.81. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.78% and a net margin of 22.93%.BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $11.93 earnings per share. Analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 64.71%.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.