Sierra Ocean LLC Purchases Shares of 155 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 155 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $159,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised 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 period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $973.22 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,019.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $973.49. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Barclays lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently 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.