Legacy Private Trust Co. Reduces Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Legacy Private Trust Co. trimmed its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,921 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $239,000. Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 701 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 823 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $844,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boltwood Capital Management grew its holdings in BlackRock by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were 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 directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,120.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,070.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded up $4.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $985.59. 777,209 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 687,495. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,031.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $937.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.91 EPS. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

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.