USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 859 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

USS Investment Management Ltd cut its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 859 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $32,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $993.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $752.30 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $917.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $978.10. The stock has a market cap of $154.20 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.81 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

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.