Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 71,600 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 74.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 71,600 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $19,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in BlackRock by 325.9% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,734 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 31.7% during the second quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 324 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.0% during the second quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,861 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,214,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 20.1% during the second quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $313,063,000 after purchasing an additional 20,692 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays raised their price target on BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Argus raised their price target on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $902.13.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $928.79 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $942.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $868.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $817.96. The company has a market capitalization of $138.02 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock 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.