Madison Asset Management LLC Sells 6,751 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Madison Asset Management LLC decreased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 53,440 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 6,751 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $43,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $1,812,920,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 641,128 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,361,064,000 after acquiring an additional 379,631 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 84.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 744,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $481,486,000 after acquiring an additional 340,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew 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 acquiring an additional 307,516 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

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

BlackRock Stock Up 1.3 %

BLK stock traded up $10.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $772.03. 1,616,051 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 510,941. The firm has a market cap of $114.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $785.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $786.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.