Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Lowers Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,835 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 56 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,881,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at $465,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 474 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,432,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,988,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,024.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $958.99. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

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.