Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Trims Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lessened its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,416 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 5,292 shares during the quarter. BlackRock accounts for approximately 0.8% of Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp's holdings in BlackRock were worth $58,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $993,312,000 after acquiring 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 acquiring an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $115,377,000. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 174.8% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded down $2.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,056.54. The company had a trading volume of 525,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 587,469. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $1,013.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $902.97. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 108,190 shares of company stock worth $113,161,681 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,039.17.

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.