Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 5,824 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 60,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,824 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $62,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Westerkirk Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth $2,877,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 7.9% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 23,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares during the period. Opus Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $1,420,000. Ally Financial Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $1,893,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,641,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,478,346.42. The trade was a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $1,071.87 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,100.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,085.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33. The firm has a market cap of $166.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $11.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Seventeen 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,302.59.

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.