BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. lessened its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 255,210 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 128,364 shares during the quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. owned 0.16% of BlackRock worth $261,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE BLK opened at $947.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market cap of $147.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $978.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $990.69.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

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.