Parallel Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Parallel Advisors LLC cut its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 261 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $10,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $975.76 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $752.30 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s fifty day moving average is $922.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $975.86.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BLK. Bank of America decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.