Lincoln Capital LLC Reduces Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Lincoln Capital LLC trimmed its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,686 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Lincoln Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Diversify Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $259,000. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $2,311,000. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $219,000. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $1,840,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 39,539 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,532,000 after buying an additional 12,864 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen increased their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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 investment 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE BLK opened at $1,004.23 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $155.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,082.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,027.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $947.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

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.