Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Decreases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,091,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 21,839 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.73% of BlackRock worth $859,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,853,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279,952 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,181,346,000 after purchasing an additional 749,654 shares during the period. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 24,171.5% in the first quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 416,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $346,831,000 after purchasing an additional 414,300 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,990,052,000 after purchasing an additional 292,017 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1,829.7% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 297,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $241,904,000 after purchasing an additional 282,543 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $885.73 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $903.46. The company has a market cap of $131.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $857.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $814.50.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group dropped their target price on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $902.13.

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.