Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 23,098 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 71,910 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 23,098 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $73,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 7.4 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $822.38 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $968.78 and a 200 day moving average of $992.74. The firm has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Citigroup boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,130.85.

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.