ABLE Financial Group LLC Decreases Position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

ABLE Financial Group LLC decreased its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 10.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 844 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 95 shares during the quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after acquiring an additional 68,405 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after buying an additional 26,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their price target on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Argus lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,028.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,035.00 to $1,105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,102.08.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,050.53 on Tuesday. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $162.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.52, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a current ratio of 4.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $966.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $968.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.09% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.81 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

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.