Principle Wealth Partners LLC Sells 120 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,724 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,868,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s 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 transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Barclays lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $985.24 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $152.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,024.93 and a 200-day moving average of $969.98. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

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.