Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Sells 227 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 939 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 227 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was 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 sold a total of 67,987 shares of company stock valued at $55,353,400 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK traded up $11.19 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $789.52. The stock had a trading volume of 654,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 621,527. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. The stock has a market cap of $117.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $795.72 and a 200 day moving average of $768.60.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.