Capital Advisors Inc. OK Sells 164 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Capital Advisors Inc. OK lessened its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 18.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 721 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 164 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $739,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 4,866 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,988,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $207,000. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 892 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $39,596,000. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 3,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,288,000 after buying an additional 777 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $973.54 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,023.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $971.96. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $150.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

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.