BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. trimmed its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,309 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,091,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Patten & Patten Inc. TN acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $205,000. Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $913,000. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,432 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,786,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock 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 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 have sold 66,978 shares of company stock worth $54,692,570 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $924.00 to $912.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on BlackRock from $910.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $872.29.

BlackRock Trading Down 2.2 %

BlackRock stock traded down $19.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $846.02. 479,910 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 644,219. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $885.10. The company has a market capitalization of $125.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $802.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $798.08.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

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.