Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 285 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 13 shares during the quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after acquiring an additional 42,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 10.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after buying an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’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 directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $988.02 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,024.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.03. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. 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 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 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 issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

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.