Simmons Bank Reduces Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Simmons Bank lessened its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 348 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $944.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $146.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,004.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $979.94. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

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.