Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 1,579 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,579 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $39,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 450.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1,000.0% in the third quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 866.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total transaction of $2,339,962.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,331.41. This trade represents a 24.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total value of $22,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $69,630,750. This trade represents a 24.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 111,319 shares of company stock worth $123,999,249 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Freedom Capital raised BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group raised shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,280.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Evercore lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,235.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,308.89.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of BLK opened at $951.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.86, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,081.96 and a 200-day moving average of $1,095.55.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.78% and a net margin of 22.93%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $11.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 64.71%.

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.