BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stake Lessened by AXS Investments LLC

AXS Investments LLC lessened its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 379 shares during the period. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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 stock was 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 owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,956 shares of company stock worth $57,252,931. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK traded down $0.08 on Friday, reaching $784.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 194,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 603,753. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. 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 has a market cap of $116.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $790.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $781.53.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

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.