Ledyard National Bank Sells 23 Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Ledyard National Bank lessened its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,067 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 23 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,082,000. Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $977,000. Finally, Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $504,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on BLK shares. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,096.31.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $986.31 on Tuesday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 4.34, a current ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $950.45 and a 200-day moving average of $969.00.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.09% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.