BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 302,639 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 52,621 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $310,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $950.43 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $980.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $987.70. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $147.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.