Tranquility Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Tranquility Partners LLC cut its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 27.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,017 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,155 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises 1.0% of Tranquility Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Tranquility Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total transaction of $353,299.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at $4,691,032.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $811.43.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock traded up $4.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $753.75. 585,432 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 627,427. The company has a market cap of $112.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $807.70 and its 200 day moving average is $755.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $7.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Company 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.