Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,580 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,619,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $572,730,000. Amundi purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $343,976,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $950.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,096.92.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $879.39 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $136.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $942.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $988.26. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $5.21 dividend. 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. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.