Raymond James & Associates Cuts Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Raymond James & Associates lessened its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 9.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 246,352 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 25,324 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.17% of BlackRock worth $205,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 404 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE BLK traded up $5.23 on Friday, reaching $762.88. The stock had a trading volume of 447,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 683,111. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $802.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $760.98.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $845.42.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.