Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. trimmed its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 127 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 42,689 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,598,000 after buying an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 302 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 21,011 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,583,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $318,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.8 %

BLK opened at $754.90 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $800.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $763.59.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.93 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total transaction of $2,669,833.98. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,972,959.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

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.