BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Mission Wealth Management LP

Mission Wealth Management LP trimmed its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 22.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,255 shares during the quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $8,865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 450.0% in the third quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 107.1% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 87.5% during the second quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,351.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group set a $1,280.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,313.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,314.71.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.0%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,119.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,090.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,108.35. The company has a market capitalization of $173.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.47.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 22.93%.The business had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $11.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $5.73 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 58.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total transaction of $22,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $69,630,750. This represents a 24.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total value of $31,675,823.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,363,724.98. This represents a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,305 shares of company stock valued at $55,488,396. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.