BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,022,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 50,584 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.66% of BlackRock worth $1,048,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Barclays lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $944.75 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $976.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $993.09. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $146.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

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.