Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Sells 2,098 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH cut its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,294 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,098 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH's holdings in BlackRock were worth $66,532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after buying an additional 3,496,740 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $2,356,357,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 401.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,122,743,000 after purchasing an additional 876,836 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $572,730,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $56,261,628.34. The trade was a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK traded down $5.51 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $987.79. The stock had a trading volume of 558,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 688,360. The company has a market cap of $153.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $931.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $972.72. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $758.20 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.81 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,035.00 to $1,105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,082.46.

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.