Intact Investment Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Intact Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,850 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $9,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after acquiring an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after acquiring an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after acquiring an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in BlackRock by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,130,330,000 after acquiring an additional 160,323 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $900.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $139.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $985.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $985.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

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.