Sentinel Trust Co. LBA Has $1.84 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sentinel Trust Co. LBA boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,794 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Sentinel Trust Co. LBA’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $944.49 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1,004.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $979.94. The firm has a market cap of $146.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.