Whittier Trust Co. Sells 340 Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Whittier Trust Co. trimmed its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,024 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 340 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 26,485 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of 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. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $980.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Trading Up 2.3%

BLK stock traded up $24.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $1,106.90. 1,175,589 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 702,413. The company has a current ratio of 4.34, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,117.19. The company has a market cap of $171.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.41. The stock's fifty day moving average is $1,006.37 and its 200-day moving average is $972.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.83% and a net margin of 29.68%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $10.36 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio 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.