Romano Brothers AND Company Sells 50 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Romano Brothers AND Company decreased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Paralel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the third quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 2,859 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,848,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.1% in the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 6,756 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,368,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.8% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,429,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $303,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $787.32 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The stock has a market cap of $117.00 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $779.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $792.90.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price target (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.