Commerce Bank Reduces Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Commerce Bank cut its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,843 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,107 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $32,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in BlackRock by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,630,127,000 after buying an additional 435,358 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,310,762,000 after buying an additional 46,728 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $942,640,000 after buying an additional 22,311 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after buying an additional 791,874 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This trade represents a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,028.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $975.38 and a 200 day moving average of $875.55. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $712.11 and a 1 year high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

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.