Valmark Advisers Inc. Reduces Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Valmark Advisers Inc. lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 20 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded up $5.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $762.88. 447,939 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 683,111. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $802.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $760.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.93 EPS. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is 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.