Alterity Financial Group LLC Has $699,000 Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Alterity Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 861 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. BlackRock accounts for 1.0% of Alterity Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Alterity Financial Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $699,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the second quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 602 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. CRA Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 4.3% in the third quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 385 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Seaport Global Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Seaport Global Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,733 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,646,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $832.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $805.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $742.68.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.84 by $0.82. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.81% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.93 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.81 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,366,142.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028. 0.96% of the stock is currently 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.