New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 208,262 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.13% of BlackRock worth $213,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position 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 worth $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,526,120,000 after buying an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 10.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.5 %

BLK traded down $14.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $974.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,253,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 821,976. The stock's 50 day moving average is $1,013.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $976.04. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

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.