Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Decreases Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. reduced its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,593 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 546 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $27,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 200.0% in the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 107.1% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 87.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BLK. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. TD Cowen raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,302.59.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,048.41 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1,107.94 and a 200-day moving average of $1,081.78. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $11.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.