BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Pegasus Asset Management Inc.

Pegasus Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,294 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. BlackRock makes up 2.8% of Pegasus Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Pegasus Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $976.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,016.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $975.86.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.