Lindenwold Advisors INC Sells 98 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Lindenwold Advisors INC trimmed its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,707 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises approximately 1.5% of Lindenwold Advisors INC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Lindenwold Advisors INC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in BlackRock by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,663,330,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after purchasing an additional 40,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in BlackRock by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,130,330,000 after purchasing an additional 160,323 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $957.17 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $982.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $987.81. The company has a market capitalization of $148.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders 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.