Voya Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Voya Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,768 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,055 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $40,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after buying an additional 68,405 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after purchasing an additional 26,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $2,356,357,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.9 %

BLK stock opened at $908.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $922.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $983.49. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $748.78 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $141.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $12,838,649. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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. Citigroup decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

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.