Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 2,178 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 490,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,178 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $502,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $916.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $142.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $923.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $983.77. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $748.02 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $12,838,649. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.