TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Cuts Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,257 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,607 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings in BlackRock were worth $16,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $518,000. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $29,432,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in BlackRock by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $12,793,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in BlackRock by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $67,038,000 after purchasing an additional 4,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its position in BlackRock by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 39,539 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $40,532,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of BlackRock stock traded down $7.98 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $908.28. The company had a trading volume of 444,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 685,214. The company has a market cap of $141.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company's 50-day moving average is $922.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $983.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $748.78 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $12,838,649. 1.98% of the stock is owned by 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.