PAX Financial Group LLC Decreases Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

PAX Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 597 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. United Bank raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth $66,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 21.9% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 10,192 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,678,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $207,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in BlackRock by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 373,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $354,647,000 after acquiring an additional 25,755 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $822.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $968.78 and a 200 day moving average of $991.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, March 29th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,130.85.

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.