Bank of Montreal Can Has $321.02 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Bank of Montreal Can trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 313,151 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 16,186 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.20% of BlackRock worth $321,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK traded down $36.04 during trading on Thursday, reaching $861.05. 706,568 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 684,571. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $133.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $947.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $988.95.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,099.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

About BlackRock

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.