New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 208,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $213,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $976.84 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,016.16 and a 200 day moving average of $975.86. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.