Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 75 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lessened its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,152,336 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,252,126,000 after acquiring an additional 138,455 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,178,048,000 after purchasing an additional 104,844 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,148,586,000 after purchasing an additional 35,161 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,361,064,000 after purchasing an additional 379,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,915,197 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,463,536,000 after buying an additional 15,290 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.3 %

BlackRock stock opened at $832.59 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $805.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $742.68. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.84 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.81% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.93 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.81 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 55.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $885.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $719.00 to $793.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BlackRock from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $708.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 15th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $720.00 to $818.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.73.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at $3,366,142.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 over the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.