BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by CRA Financial Services LLC

CRA Financial Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 339 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 11 shares during the period. CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,892 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,797,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $316,000. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 250,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $237,780,000 after acquiring an additional 10,888 shares during the period. Lion Street Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 407 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $386,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,292,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BlackRock from $774.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,036.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $972.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,272,703.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total transaction of $22,529,340.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,041.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $990.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $899.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $831.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $996.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

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.