Fisher Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Fisher Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,824,359 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 77,808 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,952,685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Shum Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. Rather & Kittrell Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. now owns 430 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 755 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $808,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.4% during the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 422 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $492,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, CICC Research boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,269.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 45,024 shares of company stock worth $47,431,063. 1.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,073.03 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $166.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1,018.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,053.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 4.09. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $917.39 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The business’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 57.53%.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.