Virtue Capital Management LLC Sells 41 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Virtue Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 582 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 41 shares during the quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 127 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $964.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $149.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $921.10 and its 200 day moving average is $976.41. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $752.30 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

BlackRock 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.