Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Cuts Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC lowered its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% in the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,227,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 328 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,424 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,251,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 0.4% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,979 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,829,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on 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, StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value 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. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,024.30 and a 200 day moving average of $958.99. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 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.