BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 565 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 53 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in BlackRock by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after acquiring an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth about $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $794,570,000 after buying an additional 189,500 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,299.29.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,073.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $166.20 billion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,132.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,066.42. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $11.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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.