Cullen Investment Group LTD. Has $4.80 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. lowered its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 85 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 116.1% in the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $864,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,427,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $103,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in BlackRock by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $313,063,000 after buying an additional 20,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,083.92.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.2 %

BLK stock opened at $954.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $147.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,030.22 and a 200-day moving average of $942.57.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

BlackRock 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.