M&G PLC Trims Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

M&G PLC trimmed its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 51.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,232 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Garde Capital Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 200.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 107.1% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 87.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,303.41.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,068.57 on Friday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1,128.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,073.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

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.