Associated Banc Corp Sells 601 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Associated Banc Corp cut its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 601 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $28,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This represents a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.6 %

BlackRock stock traded up $6.71 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $1,043.17. 28,149 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 572,880. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $724.54 and a twelve month high of $1,068.34. The company has a market cap of $161.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $984.28 and a 200-day moving average of $880.90.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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. 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 quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.