Amundi Sells 99,388 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Amundi cut its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 392,342 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 99,388 shares during the period. Amundi owned approximately 0.25% of BlackRock worth $420,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 107.1% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 87.5% in the second quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,302.59.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,071.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,100.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,083.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.30 billion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $11.46 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at $6,478,346.42. The trade was a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.98% 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.