Claro Advisors LLC Has $1.84 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Claro Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 24 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,083.92.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK traded up $0.99 on Monday, reaching $956.63. The company had a trading volume of 550,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 696,236. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45. The company has a market cap of $148.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,030.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $941.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.