AIA Group Ltd Sells 2,500 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

AIA Group Ltd trimmed its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 36.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,354 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded down $5.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $748.53. The company had a trading volume of 433,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 624,687. The firm has a market cap of $111.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $806.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $755.19. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.93 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price target (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

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.