Retirement Systems of Alabama Lowers Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,819 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 914 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $25,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% during the third quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,584,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 458 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 42,689 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,598,000 after buying an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 843 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $545,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. 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 research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $761.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $801.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $762.69. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $845.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.