Stonegate Investment Group LLC Lowers Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC lowered its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,123 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 299 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Prospect Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $501,000. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $213,000. Mattern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $2,017,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, Nilsine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $2,621,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,029.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $159.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.52, 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1,024.23 and its 200 day moving average is $955.97. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.