BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Romano Brothers AND Company

Romano Brothers AND Company decreased its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $1,812,920,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in BlackRock by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,853,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,279,952 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in BlackRock by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,181,346,000 after purchasing an additional 749,654 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 77,524.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 641,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,211,390,000 after purchasing an additional 641,128 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in BlackRock by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,128,544,000 after purchasing an additional 307,516 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.8 %

BLK opened at $787.32 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The company has a market cap of $117.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.34. 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 simple moving average is $779.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $792.90.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price target (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.42.

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.