LRI Investments LLC Decreases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

LRI Investments LLC lowered its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 582 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15 shares during the quarter. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,710,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 7,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,190,000 after buying an additional 2,024 shares during the last quarter. Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $800,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,561,000 after acquiring an additional 4,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $216,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.6%

BLK stock opened at $923.48 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $752.30 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $913.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $978.40. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $143.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.