Vestcor Inc Sells 177 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Vestcor Inc cut its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 177 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $900.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $985.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $985.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The company has a market cap of $139.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 2.31%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

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.