BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by United Capital Financial Advisors LLC

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 24.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,416 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,761 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $17,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $889.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $138.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $937.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $987.19.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.