Fiduciary Group LLC Sells 19 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Fiduciary Group LLC lowered its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,837 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 19 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after buying an additional 40,865 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,130,330,000 after buying an additional 160,323 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $956.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $148.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $981.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $987.59. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.