Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in BlackRock $BLK

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 358,087 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,679 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $383,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth $259,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth $548,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth $98,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,053.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $1,007.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,059.38. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $906.57 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.96% and a net margin of 24.40%.The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded BlackRock from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total value of $2,339,962.73. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,543 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,331.41. This trade represents a 24.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 106,911 shares of company stock valued at $114,670,698. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock 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.