B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Has $115.25 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lowered its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,083 shares during the quarter. BlackRock accounts for about 1.2% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $115,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares during the last quarter. Amundi bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $343,976,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $330,662,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $947.48 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $147.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $978.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $992.24.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on BLK. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock 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.