Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Cuts Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lowered its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 41,261 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $42,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $26,000. 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. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $974.97 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $1,011.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $978.00. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market cap of $151.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. 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 posted $9.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup increased their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Profile

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.