State Street Corp Cuts Position in BlackRock $BLK

State Street Corp trimmed its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,273,214 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 88,700 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,582,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 200.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 107.1% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 87.5% in the second quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,060.88 on Tuesday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,097.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,085.85.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $11.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,478,346.42. The trade was a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,302.59.

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.