Toroso Investments LLC Sells 1,441 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Toroso Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 41.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,029 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,441 shares during the quarter. Toroso Investments LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $682,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. lifted its position in BlackRock by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 1,696 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group lifted its position in BlackRock by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 7,082 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,739,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Shelton Capital Management lifted its position in BlackRock by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 1,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 867.5% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,224 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,503,000 after purchasing an additional 7,374 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $881.00 to $888.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $770.00 to $835.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $928.00 to $921.00 in a research report on Sunday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $780.00 to $820.00 in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $780.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $767.69.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $697.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $104.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $503.12 and a 52 week high of $785.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $706.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $681.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 4.21 and a current ratio of 4.21.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $5.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. This represents a $20.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.41%.

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.