Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 15,605 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC cut its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 95,402 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15,605 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $97,798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $572,730,000. Amundi acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $343,976,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $916.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $142.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $748.02 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $923.39 and a 200-day moving average of $983.77.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $12,838,649 over the last ninety days. 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.