Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 9,513 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 139,062 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,513 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $142,554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares during the last quarter. Amundi bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $330,662,000. Finally, National Pension Service bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $322,097,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on BLK. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $950.43 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $980.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $989.13. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

About BlackRock

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.