Royal Bank of Canada Decreases Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 758,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 382 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $777,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249 over the last quarter. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $982.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $914.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $978.04. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $752.30 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

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.