Dividend Assets Capital LLC Sells 27 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Dividend Assets Capital LLC decreased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 710 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 27 shares during the quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,432,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in BlackRock by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,793,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,038,000 after buying an additional 4,210 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $15,307,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its position in BlackRock by 242.3% in the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 21,905 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,455,000 after buying an additional 15,505 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. UBS Group decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,082.46.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $988.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $153.19 billion, a PE ratio of 23.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $752.30 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $925.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $972.43.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

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.