Wedbush Securities Inc. Sells 50 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $572,730,000. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 549 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 89,233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $91,474,000 after acquiring an additional 26,748 shares in the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,481,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,618,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday, March 29th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,130.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 7.4 %

BLK stock opened at $822.38 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $968.78 and a 200-day moving average of $991.65. The company has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

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.