GW&K Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

GW&K Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,105 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,267 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $38,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors raised its position in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after purchasing an additional 26,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,356,357,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $1,115.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK traded up $3.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $1,121.97. 138,462 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 793,495. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,129.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1,024.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $975.79. The company has a quick ratio of 4.34, a current ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 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 15.83% and a net margin of 29.68%. The firm's revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.39%.

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.