BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stock Position Reduced by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers lessened its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,226 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 85 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $9,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 98,608.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 96,772,169 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $66,883,117,000 after purchasing an additional 96,674,131 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in BlackRock by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,174,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,249,634,000 after acquiring an additional 129,335 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,664,331 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,778,039,000 after purchasing an additional 41,280 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 15.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,326,618 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,777,933,000 after purchasing an additional 310,256 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 5.0% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,934,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,337,345,000 after purchasing an additional 92,560 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.01% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE BLK opened at $708.46 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $781.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a current ratio of 3.72. The stock has a market cap of $105.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $650.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $675.27.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 13th. The asset manager reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.34 by $2.57. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.66% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 36.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.00 per share. This represents a $20.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 15,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.03, for a total transaction of $10,031,481.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 435,260 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,802,577.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on BlackRock from $781.00 to $754.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on BlackRock from $736.00 to $708.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 16th. Bank of America dropped their target price on BlackRock from $921.00 to $868.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on BlackRock from $814.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $764.75.

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.