Howard Capital Management Inc. Sells 121 Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Howard Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 12.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 832 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 121 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 76.5% during the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $283,267,354.71. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 49,352 shares of company stock valued at $55,486,962. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. TD Cowen lowered their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,114.38 on Thursday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,130.66. The firm has a market cap of $172.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.94, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,035.42 and a 200 day moving average of $979.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.83%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.39%.

BlackRock 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.