Stephens Inc. AR Trims Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,073 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 110 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,526,120,000 after buying an additional 791,874 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in BlackRock by 11.1% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,630,127,000 after buying an additional 435,358 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,990,052,000 after buying an additional 292,017 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $161,918,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $985.71 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $623.77 and a 1 year high of $1,032.00. The firm has a market cap of $146.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $940.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $850.84.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 42.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total transaction of $9,434,479.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,527,116. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,272,703.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total value of $9,434,479.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,527,116. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,511 shares of company stock worth $55,568,552 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $995.31.

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.