FourThought Financial Partners LLC Sells 211 Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC lessened its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 211 shares during the period. BlackRock accounts for about 1.5% of FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $13,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 401.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,122,743,000 after acquiring an additional 876,836 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $572,730,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,100,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,152,907,000 after acquiring an additional 329,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,591,716 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,631,684,000 after acquiring an additional 272,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,123.48 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,130.66. The stock has a market cap of $174.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $1,027.64 and its 200-day moving average is $976.79. The company has a quick ratio of 4.34, a current ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.83% and a net margin of 29.68%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,352 shares of company stock valued at $55,486,962 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.