Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Trims Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,850 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 22 shares during the quarter. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,103.08.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $817.17 on Tuesday. 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 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $964.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $991.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by 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.