BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Position Cut by Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC

Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC trimmed its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 25.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 795 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 268 shares during the quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $815,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 22.1% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 83 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its stake in BlackRock by 4.7% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 425 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in BlackRock by 6.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,044,000 after buying an additional 1,353 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of BLK opened at $973.54 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,023.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $971.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Company 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.