1248 Management LLC Decreases Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• 1248 Management LLC reduced its stake in BlackRock by 33%, selling 455 shares to hold a total of 925 shares valued at approximately $875,000.
• BlackRock's CEO, Laurence Fink, sold over 14,000 shares for about $16.6 million, which represents a 5.32% decrease in his ownership.
• Equities analysts maintain a favorable outlook on BlackRock, with Goldman Sachs reaffirming a "buy" rating and setting a target price of $1,115, while Jefferies and Barclays increased their price targets.

1248 Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 33.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 925 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 455 shares during the period. 1248 Management LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Detalus Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% in the first quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 65 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 2.1% in the first quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 579 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 3.0% during the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 451 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crumly & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.5% during the first quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 864 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $818,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Argus reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,154.07.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded down $9.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $1,099.21. 487,342 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 739,276. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $1,109.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,001.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,171.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $10.36 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

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.