Synovus Financial Corp Has $4.40 Million Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Synovus Financial Corp lowered its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 17.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,773 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. CNB Bank lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 9.6% during the second quarter. CNB Bank now owns 103 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in BlackRock by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 72 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 817 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 1,794 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,092,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,444 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Freedom Capital raised BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,514.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Evercore dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,244.00 to $1,267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,311.11.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total value of $31,675,823.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,363,724.98. This represents a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 5,293 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,084.22, for a total transaction of $5,738,776.46. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 46,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,074,700.70. This represents a 10.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 109,967 shares of company stock valued at $122,487,380. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.2%

BLK opened at $1,078.88 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1,093.58 and its 200-day moving average is $1,105.07. The company has a market cap of $167.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.37, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 15.14%. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $11.93 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 58.84%.

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.