Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Has $9.89 Million Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,008 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $9,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 329,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $311,293,000 after purchasing an additional 8,620 shares during the last quarter. Capital Square LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in BlackRock by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,188 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,128,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its holdings in BlackRock by 5.9% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 467 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $105,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,031.49 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $724.54 and a 12 month high of $1,068.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $987.00 and a 200-day moving average of $882.60. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $159.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $10.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

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.