Natixis Sells 4,692 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Natixis lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 33.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,160 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,692 shares during the quarter. Natixis' holdings in BlackRock were worth $9,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.9 %

BlackRock stock traded down $7.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $908.28. 444,438 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 684,264. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $748.78 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $922.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $983.49. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $141.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $12,838,649. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.