Capital Research Global Investors Sells 1,446,874 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Capital Research Global Investors lowered its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 30.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,255,488 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,446,874 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,337,233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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. Barclays upped their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $875.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $930.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $985.45. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.63%.

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.