Wright Investors Service Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lessened its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 67.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 675 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,427 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.2 %

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

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. Barclays lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. 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 research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,083.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.