LM Advisors LLC Sells 268 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

LM Advisors LLC decreased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 23.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 857 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 268 shares during the period. LM Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $506,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $3,105,000. Armis Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $248,000. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $330,000. Finally, Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,744,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $964.56 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $752.30 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $920.93 and its 200-day moving average is $976.93. The company has a market capitalization of $149.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

About BlackRock

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.