Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Decreases Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. cut its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 38.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,157 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,542 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. 1858 Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $230,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its position in BlackRock by 1.4% during the third quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 9,703 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,213,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 0.3% during the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $229,000. Finally, Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 34.9% in the third quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $995.31.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK traded down $7.32 on Monday, hitting $999.70. The stock had a trading volume of 236,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 575,925. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $915.45 and a 200-day moving average of $837.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $1,032.00. The company has a market capitalization of $148.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $10.91 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.73 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at $4,826,802.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at $4,826,802.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,042 shares of company stock worth $56,857,777. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.