BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Position Reduced by OLD Second National Bank of Aurora

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora cut its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,690 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 24 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises 1.8% of OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $465,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in BlackRock by 4.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 23.1% in the second quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 474 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,432,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,988,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.2 %

BLK opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,024.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $958.99. The company has a market capitalization of $163.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Company 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.