Schroder Investment Management Group Decreases Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Schroder Investment Management Group cut its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 338,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,212 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned 0.22% of BlackRock worth $398,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 450.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 1,000.0% in the third quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 866.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total value of $31,675,823.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,363,724.98. The trade was a 71.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 5,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,084.22, for a total value of $5,738,776.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 46,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,074,700.70. The trade was a 10.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 111,319 shares of company stock worth $123,999,249 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. CICC Research boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,280.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,308.89.

BlackRock Trading Down 7.9%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $953.67 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $148.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,089.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,098.99.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 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.