Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 148 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ballentine Partners LLC reduced its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,284 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 148 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,812,920,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,853,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,181,346,000 after purchasing an additional 749,654 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 77,524.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 641,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,211,390,000 after purchasing an additional 641,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,128,544,000 after purchasing an additional 307,516 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BLK traded up $5.53 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $793.13. The stock had a trading volume of 19,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 604,310. The firm has a market cap of $117.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.34. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $775.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $791.81.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price target (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

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.