Great Diamond Partners LLC Reduces Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Great Diamond Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,975 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 90 shares during the quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock 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 value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % 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 worth $115,163,141 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,075.83 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,025.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $960.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

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.