NFJ Investment Group LLC Sells 49 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

NFJ Investment Group LLC trimmed its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 49 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after purchasing an additional 40,865 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $942,640,000 after buying an additional 22,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, November 29th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,038.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $160.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The business has a 50-day moving average of $998.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $891.90. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $742.22 and a 1 year high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its 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 return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.91 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. 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.