BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 240,141 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 6,398 shares during the period. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $251,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Garde Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 87.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,372.00 to $1,313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,312.00 to $1,305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Bank of America upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,302.59.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. This trade represents a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4%

BLK stock opened at $1,075.11 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,101.74 and a 200-day moving average of $1,083.27. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The company has a market cap of $166.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $11.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 53.59%.

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.