Motco Has $1.04 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Motco reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 18 shares during the period. Motco’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $944.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,004.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $979.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

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.