Hoey Investments Inc. Sells 22 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Hoey Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 212 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 22 shares during the quarter. Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. United Bank lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.9% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 57,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,979,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711 shares during the last quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.7% during the third quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 1,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,904,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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 research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. 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, Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $947.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $978.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $992.24. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $147.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 dividend yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

About BlackRock

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.