BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stock Holdings Reduced by Beacon Financial Group

Beacon Financial Group cut its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,488 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 289 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Group’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.3 %

BlackRock stock opened at $988.02 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,024.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $971.03. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $153.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

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 return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 48.57%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock 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 represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.