Meridian Wealth Management LLC Sells 111 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 19.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 467 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 111 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd 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 period. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,036.46 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $984.28 and a 200 day moving average of $880.90. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $724.54 and a 12-month high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $10.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. This represents a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,019.62.

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.