Simmons Bank Sells 15 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Simmons Bank cut its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 695 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,987 shares of company stock valued at $55,353,400 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded down $2.89 on Wednesday, hitting $778.03. 483,366 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 619,184. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $796.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $768.53. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 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 issued its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.