Quadrant Capital Group LLC Reduces Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC lowered its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,265 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,027,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its stake in BlackRock by 208.3% in the fourth 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 fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 76,037 shares of company stock worth $61,743,127. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK traded down $7.98 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $807.72. 486,170 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 617,230. The company has a market capitalization of $120.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $793.27 and its 200-day moving average is $775.28. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

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.