Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 50 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Gabelli Funds LLC decreased its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,650 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $66,000. Invst LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,312,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp bought a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $225,000. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $399,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 31.8% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $889.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $937.25 and a 200-day moving average of $987.19. The company has a market cap of $138.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

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.