BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stock Holdings Lessened by Summitry LLC

Summitry LLC decreased its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 32.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 465 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 226 shares during the quarter. Summitry LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $974.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $981.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $990.51. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 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. The company has a market cap of $151.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on BLK. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of 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. 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

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.