Haverford Trust Co Sells 66 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Haverford Trust Co cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 311,706 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises approximately 3.2% of Haverford Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Haverford Trust Co owned approximately 0.20% of BlackRock worth $319,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ICW Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 488 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $605,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 816 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $837,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the period. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $950.43 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $147.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $980.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $989.13.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.