BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by ST Germain D J Co. Inc.

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 532 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 1.0% of ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $22,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,070.08.

BlackRock Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE BLK traded down $36.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $949.91. 329,576 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 622,047. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,031.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $938.17. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

About BlackRock

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.