Sanders Morris Harris LLC Trims Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC trimmed its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,092,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 31.7% in the second quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 324 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth about $383,000. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 19.1% in the 2nd quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 530 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co boosted its position in BlackRock by 4.9% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 8,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,317,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,100.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $998.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $154.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,029.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $943.81. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

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.