State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $42.69 Million Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 36.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 54,227 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 30,501 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $42,694,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,990,052,000 after buying an additional 292,017 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 11.1% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,630,127,000 after buying an additional 435,358 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,853,517,000 after buying an additional 1,279,952 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,471,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,006,490,000 after buying an additional 58,681 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,812,920,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Argus raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $883.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $877.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market cap of $130.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $854.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $813.31. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $903.46.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

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.