Bank OZK Trims Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Bank OZK reduced its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. Bank OZK’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Emerald Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $851,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its position in BlackRock by 1.9% in the third quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 1,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $712,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 764 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $439,000. Finally, Patten & Patten Inc. TN purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $205,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at $4,691,032.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total transaction of $2,460,966.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,628 shares in the company, valued at $6,849,424.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total transaction of $353,299.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock worth $66,778,367. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7 %

BLK stock traded up $5.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $762.88. The company had a trading volume of 447,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 683,111. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $845.00. The company has a market cap of $113.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $802.08 and a 200 day moving average of $760.15. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen raised shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped 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 note on Monday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.