BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 118,874 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 64 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $124,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 10.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,142,340,000 after buying an additional 111,694 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 32.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in BlackRock by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,970,000 after buying an additional 108,473 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.6%

BLK opened at $1,201.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1,138.95 and its 200-day moving average is $1,039.23. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $11.46 EPS. Analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.39%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.