Sandy Spring Bank Has $12.42 Million Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sandy Spring Bank lessened its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,112 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 266 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE BLK opened at $956.47 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $981.50 and a 200-day moving average of $987.59. The company has a market cap of $148.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.