Voya Financial Advisors Inc. Has $1.18 Million Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Voya Financial Advisors Inc. cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,152 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 33 shares during the quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after acquiring an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after buying an additional 26,485 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,356,357,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock worth $12,838,649 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $916.38 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $923.39 and its 200 day moving average is $983.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $748.02 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $142.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

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.