Synovus Financial Corp Sells 293 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Synovus Financial Corp reduced its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,682 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 293 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, December 7th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,039.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 108,190 shares of company stock valued at $113,161,681 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,056.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,015.33 and a 200 day moving average of $904.88. The company has a market capitalization of $163.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.08, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,082.45. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

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.