Oak Harvest Investment Services Sells 10,187 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Oak Harvest Investment Services lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 89.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,187 shares during the quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 20.4% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,070.81 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,024.87 and its 200 day moving average is $959.65. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market cap of $165.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 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.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock 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.