Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Lowers Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,123 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 382 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of BLK opened at $1,046.87 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $969.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $869.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $708.75 and a 1-year high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.