Palouse Capital Management Inc. Has $4.19 Million Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up approximately 3.0% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in BlackRock by 208.3% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 671.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

BlackRock Stock Up 0.4 %

BLK stock traded up $2.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $749.98. 850,477 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 630,430. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $805.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $755.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The stock has a market cap of $111.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,691,032.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total transaction of $353,299.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.