Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 56 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 56 shares during the quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 20.4% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,169,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in BlackRock by 219.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 44,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,737,000 after acquiring an additional 30,274 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 6.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,862 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,162,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 62.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,804,000 after acquiring an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,026.24 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $158.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $724.54 and a 12-month high of $1,068.34. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $989.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $884.21.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on BLK. Barclays upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen upped 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.62.

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.