MetLife Investment Management LLC Has $34.52 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,356 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,046 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $34,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,031.48 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $725.86 and a 52-week high of $1,068.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $989.43 and its 200 day moving average is $884.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market cap of $159.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.62.

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.