Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Sells 4,173 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lessened its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 47.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,661 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,173 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 73.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after acquiring an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 10.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,142,340,000 after purchasing an additional 111,694 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 32.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after purchasing an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in BlackRock by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,970,000 after purchasing an additional 108,473 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,299.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,081.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $1,130.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,068.02. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $11.46 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

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.