BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC

Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC trimmed its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,213 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 277 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises approximately 2.1% of Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $11,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $383,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 6.8% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 16,108 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $12,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth $2,113,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 21.2% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $6,321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock traded up $8.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,004.23. The company had a trading volume of 1,079,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 610,586. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $1,027.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $946.18.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Company 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.