BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co. raised its position in BlackRock by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 602 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 385 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Seaport Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Seaport Global Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,733 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,646,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at $3,366,142.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028 over the last 90 days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of BlackRock from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $708.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 15th. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $720.00 to $818.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $719.00 to $793.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $885.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.73.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $832.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $805.17 and its 200 day moving average is $742.68. The firm has a market cap of $124.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.84 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 30.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.81 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 55.88%.

BlackRock 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.