The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Reduces Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 85,610 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,175 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.06% of BlackRock worth $81,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $115,377,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 174.8% in the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 184,291 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $145,096,000 after acquiring an additional 117,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at $86,282,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.7 %

BLK opened at $1,019.45 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $725.86 and a 1 year high of $1,068.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $991.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $885.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The company has a market cap of $157.89 billion, a PE ratio of 25.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,019.62.

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.