Russell Investments Group Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,523 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 6,572 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings in BlackRock were worth $46,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in BlackRock by 3.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,178,048,000 after purchasing an additional 104,844 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,148,586,000 after purchasing an additional 35,161 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 22.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,361,064,000 after purchasing an additional 379,631 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in BlackRock by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,128,544,000 after acquiring an additional 307,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 5.0% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,568,890 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,014,287,000 after purchasing an additional 74,974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of BLK stock traded down $6.64 on Tuesday, hitting $754.64. 418,600 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 621,854. The business has a 50-day moving average of $801.42 and a 200 day moving average of $762.69. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $845.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 approximately $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total transaction of $2,669,833.98. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.