Korea Investment CORP Sells 12,043 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Korea Investment CORP lessened its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 129,869 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,043 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.08% of BlackRock worth $133,130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. United Bank grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in BlackRock by 1,150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $105,000. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.9% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 467 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 27.5% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,609 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,174,000 after acquiring an additional 1,857 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE BLK opened at $968.79 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market cap of $150.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $980.33 and its 200-day moving average is $990.36.

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, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

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.