FourThought Financial Partners LLC Sells 43 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC lowered its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 43 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 1.6% of FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,102,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,130,330,000 after acquiring an additional 160,323 shares during the period. BHK Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. BHK Investment Advisors LLC now owns 791 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,397 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,507,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Mengis Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 443 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 4,156 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,260,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $951.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,009.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $979.66. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

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.