Financial Advocates Investment Management Sells 46 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Financial Advocates Investment Management decreased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,427 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 46 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,005.99 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,025.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $966.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised 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. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.