abrdn plc Sells 8,151 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

abrdn plc cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,151 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $54,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trust Point Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 1,352 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Matisse Capital bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $964,000. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 15,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,422,000 after buying an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,783,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,017.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,026.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $965.17.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About BlackRock

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.