Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,727 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,058 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned about 0.05% of BlackRock worth $61,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BLK. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $762.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $802.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $760.15.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.93 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.