Principal Street Partners LLC Sells 12 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Principal Street Partners LLC lessened its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 418 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12 shares during the quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 938 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 22.9% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,416,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 24.7% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 106 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 12.2% in the first quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 461 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $193,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This trade represents a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,026.24 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $724.54 and a 12-month high of $1,068.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $989.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $884.21. The company has a market capitalization of $158.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.91 EPS. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.62.

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.