BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Holdings Cut by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,610 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,175 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.06% of BlackRock worth $81,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after purchasing an additional 40,865 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,310,762,000 after purchasing an additional 46,728 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $942,640,000 after purchasing an additional 22,311 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after buying an additional 791,874 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,019.62.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,019.45 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $991.35 and a 200-day moving average of $885.16. The company has a market capitalization of $157.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $725.86 and a 52 week high of $1,068.34. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

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.