Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 415,619 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 23,453 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.27% of BlackRock worth $393,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,712,493,000 after buying an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 93,844 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,312,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Argus boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,028.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,110.92.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE BLK traded up $5.71 on Friday, reaching $1,076.28. 342,684 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 694,677. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.74 billion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 4.34, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $976.32 and a 200 day moving average of $969.46.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. BlackRock's payout ratio is 50.63%.

About BlackRock

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.