Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Lowers Position in BlackRock $BLK

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. decreased its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 2.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,593 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 546 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $27,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 144,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $152,067,000 after buying an additional 3,822 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 15.8% during the second quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.8% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,638 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $21,654,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter worth $155,000. Finally, Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 17.9% in the second quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 18,208 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,105,000 after acquiring an additional 2,767 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Citigroup increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,302.59.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,048.41 on Friday. 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 has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1,107.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,081.78. The stock has a market cap of $162.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $11.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 53.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.