Achmea Investment Management B.V. Trims Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,309 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 829 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $38,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $518,000. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in BlackRock by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,432,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in BlackRock by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,793,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,904,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $909.96 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $141.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $987.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $985.88. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

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.