Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 2,258 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 73,795 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,258 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $75,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % 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. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of BLK opened at $1,020.19 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,024.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $952.31. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

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.