Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA Sells 18 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA decreased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 771 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 18 shares during the period. Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. now owns 2,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,137,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Bradyco Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $414,000. Destination Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 1,245 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,432,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,051,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, 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 $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $947.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $146.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. 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 is $994.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $984.14. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

BlackRock Company 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.