HBW Advisory Services LLC Reduces Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

HBW Advisory Services LLC lessened its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 357 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 0.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 291,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $229,642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its stake in BlackRock by 89.2% in the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 123 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,972,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in BlackRock by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 283,727 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $221,749,000 after acquiring an additional 17,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 44.9% in the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,299 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,597,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BLK. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,070.08.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $955.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The company has a market capitalization of $147.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,030.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $939.26. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

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.