Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 25.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 868,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 294,368 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $890,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,130.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 7.4 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $822.38 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. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $968.78 and a 200 day moving average of $992.74. The firm has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, 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 Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

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.