Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 445,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 40,439 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $422,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.5 %

BLK opened at $1,029.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $152.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $947.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $857.04. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $646.91 and a 12 month high of $1,057.51.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 42.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total transaction of $9,434,479.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,527,116. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 35,061 shares of company stock worth $30,734,840 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Argus lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,004.54.

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.