Morningstar Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lowered its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 27.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,857 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,982 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises about 0.8% of Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $13,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Oak Harvest Investment Services raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 12,176.1% in the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,707,356,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,159 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 217.5% in the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 619,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $722,247,000 after acquiring an additional 424,388 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,051,846,000 after acquiring an additional 221,123 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 39.5% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 547,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $645,354,000 after acquiring an additional 154,907 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 995.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 143,988 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $154,116,000 after acquiring an additional 130,841 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.0%

BLK stock opened at $1,073.03 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $166.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.44. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $917.39 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $1,018.09 and its 200 day moving average 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 (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.64 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 45,024 shares of company stock worth $47,431,063 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. CICC Research increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,220.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have given 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.

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.