Aviso Financial Inc. Has $1.14 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Aviso Financial Inc. trimmed its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 321 shares during the quarter. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,835,000. Impact Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,842,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 48,331 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $49,544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,497 shares in the last quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Balboa Wealth Partners bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $266,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, 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 is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $928.74 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $983.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $985.61. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $144.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business 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 firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. Barclays lowered their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

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.