California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 268,031 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,883 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $217,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 538 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.7 %

BLK traded up $5.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $765.49. 93,405 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 623,260. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $804.19 and a 200 day moving average of $758.48. The firm has a market cap of $114.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.