Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. cut its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 89.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 360 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,056 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up approximately 0.8% of Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,644,007,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 105,267.4% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,789,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,280 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,104,122,000 after acquiring an additional 842,901 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1,962.0% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 792,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $831,524,000 after acquiring an additional 754,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in BlackRock by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Argus upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,390.00 to $1,322.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,314.94.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.3%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,068.55 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. The stock has a market cap of $165.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1,088.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,090.52. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.BlackRock’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $11.46 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.59%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.