Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 75 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ritholtz Wealth Management cut its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. West Tower Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new position in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Selway Asset Management bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at $3,366,142.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $832.59 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The firm has a market cap of $124.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day moving average is $805.17 and its 200-day moving average is $742.68.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.88%.

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.