National Pension Service Reduces Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

National Pension Service lessened its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 9.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 297,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 30,408 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.19% of BlackRock worth $312,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% in the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 87.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research lowered shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price target on BlackRock and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,303.41.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,083.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,129.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,072.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04.

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

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.