Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Decreases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC lowered its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,654 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Seaport Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Seaport Global Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,733 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,646,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 884 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $592,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 653 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crumly & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 759 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BlackRock from $780.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $780.00 to $785.00 in a research report on Monday, July 17th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on BlackRock from $750.00 to $815.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $741.00 to $781.00 in a report on Monday, July 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $767.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total value of $1,525,611.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,160 shares in the company, valued at $4,520,331.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 464,125 shares in the company, valued at $344,399,315. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total transaction of $1,525,611.78. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,520,331.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded down $9.40 on Friday, reaching $697.41. The company had a trading volume of 2,816,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 641,401. The company has a current ratio of 4.21, a quick ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $706.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $681.26. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $503.12 and a 52-week high of $785.65.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 14th. The asset manager reported $9.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.52 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.90% and a return on equity of 14.29%. BlackRock’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.36 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 35.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be paid a $5.00 dividend. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.41%.

BlackRock Company 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.