BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 439,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 6,140 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of BlackRock worth $450,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

BlackRock stock opened at $973.22 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,019.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $973.49.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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 in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

About BlackRock

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.