Lane & Associates LLC Sells 77 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Lane & Associates LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 412 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $443,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. 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 note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $990.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,013.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $976.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The company has a market cap of $153.40 billion, a PE ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In 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 insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.