Korea Investment CORP Sells 12,043 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Korea Investment CORP lessened its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 129,869 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,043 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $133,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $968.79 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $980.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $990.36. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $150.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday, March 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. UBS Group upped their price objective 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 cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Company 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.