Wintrust Investments LLC Trims Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wintrust Investments LLC lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 38.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 261 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 166 shares during the quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Amundi purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $330,662,000. Finally, National Pension Service purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $322,097,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BLK. UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $909.96 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The company has a market cap of $141.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $987.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $985.88.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

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.