BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Central Bank & Trust Co.

Central Bank & Trust Co. decreased its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 851 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,035.00 to $1,105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,082.46.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5%

BLK opened at $990.26 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $752.30 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $925.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $973.18. The company has a market cap of $153.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.