BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR cut its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,777 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 296 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $991.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market cap of $153.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,024.93 and its 200-day moving average is $968.98. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Insider Activity

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 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 approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

About BlackRock

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.