BlackRock $BLK Stock Position Reduced by National Pension Service

National Pension Service decreased its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 9.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 297,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 30,408 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $312,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment lifted its stake in BlackRock by 29.2% in the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $794,570,000 after acquiring an additional 189,500 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,303.41.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,083.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,129.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,072.92. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $11.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

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.