Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 20 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lowered its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,660 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 11.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 435,358 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the second 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the second 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 period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,047.37 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $708.75 and a 1-year high of $1,068.34. The firm has a market cap of $155.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $969.04 and a 200-day moving average of $870.78. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.