Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 620 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Everence Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,382 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 620 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $1,016.56. 146,584 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 366,075. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,030.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $930.79. The firm has a market cap of $157.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. 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 report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,063.00.

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.