Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 5,824 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Federated Hermes Inc. cut its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,824 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $62,992,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Welch Group LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.7% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 340 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 103 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 72 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in BlackRock by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. This trade represents a 16.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,372.00 to $1,313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,302.59.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,071.87 on Monday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,100.03 and a 200-day moving average of $1,085.21. The company has a market capitalization of $166.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.59%.

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.