Insider Selling: BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) CEO Sells 30,978 Shares of Stock

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Laurence Fink also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 28th, Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $781.94 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00. The firm has a market cap of $116.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $789.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $782.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its holdings in BlackRock by 208.3% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.