Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $115,377,000. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 174.8% in the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 184,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,096,000 after purchasing an additional 117,218 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5 %

BlackRock stock opened at $1,026.24 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $724.54 and a 1-year high of $1,068.34. 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 stock has a market cap of $158.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $989.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $884.21.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other 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 sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Evercore ISI increased 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen increased their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,019.62.

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.