Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC Sells 67 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 67 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up about 1.2% of Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $10,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $979.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $1,003.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $980.92. The stock has a market cap of $151.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its 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 net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% 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.