Northeast Investment Management Cuts Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Northeast Investment Management cut its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 384 shares during the period. Northeast Investment Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $17,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.5 %

BlackRock stock opened at $991.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1,024.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $968.12. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $153.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % 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 in 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.