Simmons Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Simmons Bank cut its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 695 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $564,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 77,524.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 641,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,211,390,000 after purchasing an additional 641,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,361,064,000 after buying an additional 379,631 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in BlackRock by 84.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 744,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $481,486,000 after acquiring an additional 340,792 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in BlackRock by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,128,544,000 after acquiring an additional 307,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 24.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 713,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $461,446,000 after acquiring an additional 139,570 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,987 shares of company stock valued at $55,353,400. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:BLK traded down $2.89 on Wednesday, reaching $778.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 483,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 619,184. The firm has a market cap of $115.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $796.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $768.53.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. 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 note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

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.