Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Sells 140 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 140 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. UBS Group raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup increased 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 report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued 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 $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $951.45 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $147.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1,009.33 and its 200-day moving average is $979.66.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 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. Investors 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 is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

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.