LM Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

LM Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 23.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 857 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 268 shares during the quarter. LM Advisors LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,200,450,000 after buying an additional 93,844 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after acquiring an additional 26,485 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $2,356,357,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.2%

BlackRock stock traded up $1.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $977.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,060,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 694,622. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $922.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $975.46. The company has a market capitalization of $151.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. 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 12 month low of $752.30 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

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.