DRW Securities LLC Sells 1,682 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

DRW Securities LLC lowered its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 75.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 553 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,682 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BLK. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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 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 company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,026.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $989.43 and a 200 day moving average of $884.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $724.54 and a 12-month high of $1,068.34. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

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.