M&G Plc Sells 83,262 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

M&G Plc lessened its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 45.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,208 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 83,262 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $96,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,029.82 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $947.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $857.04. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $646.91 and a 1 year high of $1,057.51. The company has a market capitalization of $152.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 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.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 42.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Argus upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $995.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $995.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $875.03, for a total transaction of $10,500,360.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,670,194.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 35,061 shares of company stock valued at $30,734,840 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.