BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by American National Bank

American National Bank lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 48.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 349 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 326 shares during the quarter. American National Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 10.4% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,825 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.3% during the first quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 2,152 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 24,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $20,512,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the first quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 1,923 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $788.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $117.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.34. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $775.61 and a 200 day moving average of $791.21. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.