BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Comerica Bank

Comerica Bank decreased its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLKFree Report) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 50,125 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,509 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $58,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $259,000. Candriam S.C.A. raised its position in BlackRock by 68.2% in the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 20,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $21,581,000 after purchasing an additional 8,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth $3,350,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 225 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,069.56, for a total value of $240,651.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,054,779.16. The trade was a 3.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total value of $417,690.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,335 shares in the company, valued at $3,618,174.85. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 111,319 shares of company stock worth $123,999,249 in the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $922.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.48. 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 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $1,075.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,092.85.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLKGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 14.78%. The business’s revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $11.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.71%.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. CICC Research raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “moderate buy” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,308.89.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on BlackRock

About BlackRock

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

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