Spire Wealth Management Lowers Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Spire Wealth Management lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,543 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 54 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $234,000. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $236,000. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 644 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $523,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $234,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 50,206 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,163,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded up $7.56 on Tuesday, hitting $782.20. The stock had a trading volume of 72,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 612,989. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $796.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $767.36. The stock has a market cap of $116.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $845.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 71,087 shares of company stock worth $57,814,366. 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.