BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 33.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,000 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,493 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 22.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,361,064,000 after purchasing an additional 379,631 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,015,535 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,636,212,000 after buying an additional 47,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 21.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,128,544,000 after buying an additional 307,516 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BLK. 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 research report on Monday, April 15th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $845.42.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total value of $2,460,966.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,849,424.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total transaction of $2,460,966.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,849,424.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 71,087 shares of company stock valued at $57,814,366 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $6.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $780.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 777,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 620,987. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The company has a market capitalization of $116.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $796.34 and a 200 day moving average of $768.53.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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