CRA Financial Services LLC Trims Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

CRA Financial Services LLC reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 16.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 345 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 69 shares during the period. CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its stake in BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $6.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $787.32. The stock had a trading volume of 769,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 564,991. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $779.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $792.90. The stock has a market cap of $117.00 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, 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 link. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.