AMF Tjanstepension AB Sells 9,402 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

AMF Tjanstepension AB reduced its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 24.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,976 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,402 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $24,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 404 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $6.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $787.32. The stock had a trading volume of 769,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 606,028. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The firm has a market cap of $117.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average is $779.33 and its 200 day moving average is $792.66.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the business’s 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 owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price target (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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 raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.