Code Waechter LLC Sells 82 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Code Waechter LLC trimmed its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 24.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 251 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 82 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 116.1% in the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $864,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,427,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at $103,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $313,063,000 after acquiring an additional 20,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 20.1% in the second quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on BLK shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,083.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $954.19 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,030.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $942.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

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.