Cumberland Partners Ltd Trims Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Cumberland Partners Ltd lowered its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 13.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,465 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 885 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Birchbrook Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 866.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9%

BLK stock opened at $1,073.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $166.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,018.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,054.00. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 57.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,220.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. TD Cowen cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,083.05, for a total transaction of $2,166,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,980 shares in the company, valued at $67,127,439. The trade was a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 45,249 shares of company stock worth $47,671,714. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

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.