Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Purchases 14,477 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 387,202 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,477 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $322,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring 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 purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its position in BlackRock by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 404 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK traded up $1.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $790.56. The stock had a trading volume of 42,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 599,219. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $779.77 and its 200 day moving average is $792.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. 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 business posted $7.93 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $915.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.17.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.