Unisphere Establishment Sells 100,000 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Unisphere Establishment decreased its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 650,000 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 100,000 shares during the period. BlackRock makes up approximately 5.8% of Unisphere Establishment's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Unisphere Establishment owned approximately 0.42% of BlackRock worth $666,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,077.08.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK traded up $12.33 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $928.47. 822,497 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 687,353. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $752.30 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market cap of $144.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $916.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $981.38. 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 (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.81 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.