Palouse Capital Management Inc. Has $4.13 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 115 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 2.8% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after acquiring an additional 93,844 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after acquiring an additional 26,485 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Barclays lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,082.46.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $971.24 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $937.84 and a 200-day moving average of $972.04. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $759.99 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The company has a market capitalization of $150.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by 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.