BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC

Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 9,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 71 shares during the quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BLK traded down $5.32 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $799.61. 391,581 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 608,595. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The stock has a market cap of $118.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $791.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $781.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.32, a current ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,037 shares of company stock worth $61,743,127 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

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.