Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. Cuts Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. trimmed its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 22.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 693 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after buying an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after buying an additional 93,844 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after buying an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,450,475,000 after acquiring an additional 26,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,082.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $56,261,628.34. This trade represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of BLK opened at $987.79 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $934.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $972.41. 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 company has a market capitalization of $153.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $758.20 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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 return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 payout ratio is currently 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.