Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 826 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 826 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $9,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Archer Investment Corp raised its stake in BlackRock by 50.0% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 63 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,576,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,973 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,722,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,265 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $23,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in BlackRock by 5.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 35,278 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,924 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,046.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The company has a market capitalization of $155.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $708.75 and a 52-week high of $1,068.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $969.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $869.97.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $10.91 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.62.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.