BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Panagora Asset Management Inc.

Panagora Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 27.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,340 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 510 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 48 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 48.6% in the 1st quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 52 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. 77.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total transaction of $1,525,611.78. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,520,331.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total value of $1,525,611.78. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,520,331.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 464,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,399,315. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $741.00 to $781.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $881.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $750.00 to $815.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $780.00 to $785.00 in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $767.69.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $690.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.21, a quick ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $503.12 and a twelve month high of $785.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $705.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $681.12.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The asset manager reported $9.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.52 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 29.90%. BlackRock’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.36 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 35.48 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $5.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 7th. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.41%.

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.