Financial Counselors Inc. Sells 1,475 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Financial Counselors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,192 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,475 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $154,000. Wambolt & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 14,473 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 1,123 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,151,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented 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 for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.0 %

BLK stock opened at $968.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $979.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $990.21. The company has a market capitalization of $150.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

BlackRock 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.