Modera Wealth Management LLC Sells 963 Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Modera Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 963 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $56,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 155.7% during the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 10,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,331,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,232 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,228,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in BlackRock by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 145,012 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $148,656,000 after acquiring an additional 4,299 shares during the period. Finally, Gibson Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Gibson Capital LLC now owns 263 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,352 shares of company stock worth $55,486,962 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays increased their target price on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,120.79 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,130.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,032.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $978.79. The company has a quick ratio of 4.34, a current ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.83% and a net margin of 29.68%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.39%.

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.