BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by M&G Plc

M&G PLC lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 45.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,208 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 83,262 shares during the period. M&G PLC owned about 0.07% of BlackRock worth $96,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $37,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the first quarter valued at about $38,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded up $6.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $1,036.06. The stock had a trading volume of 527,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 573,751. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business's fifty day moving average is $947.54 and its 200-day moving average is $857.04. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $648.43 and a 1-year high of $1,057.51. The firm has a market cap of $153.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.57, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.91 earnings per share. BlackRock's quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 42.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $875.03, for a total value of $10,500,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,670,194.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 35,061 shares of company stock worth $30,734,840. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,004.54.

BlackRock Company 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.