BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Lowers Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp cut its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 13.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,734 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $23,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 81.5% in the third 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 third quarter worth about $54,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,022.80 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $994.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $888.30. The firm has a market cap of $158.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $742.22 and a 52 week high of $1,068.34. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $10.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

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.