Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ Sells 272 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ lowered its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 34.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 528 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 272 shares during the period. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $541,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth approximately $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,724,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,169,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE BLK opened at $1,017.12 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $157.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,026.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $965.17. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.