State of Alaska Department of Revenue Sells 196 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 196 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $17,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,014.43 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $157.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1,025.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $966.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for 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%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current 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 represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.