CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 100 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

CENTRAL TRUST Co reduced its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in BlackRock by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,181,346,000 after buying an additional 749,654 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in BlackRock by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,853,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in BlackRock by 3.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,178,048,000 after purchasing an additional 104,844 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,148,586,000 after purchasing an additional 35,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,471,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,006,490,000 after buying an additional 58,681 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’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 owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,037 shares of company stock worth $61,743,127 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. 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 report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of BLK stock traded down $5.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $799.61. The stock had a trading volume of 387,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 608,595. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $790.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $781.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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 company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

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.