Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC Sells 340 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 31.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 754 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 340 shares during the quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter worth $518,000. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $29,432,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in BlackRock by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,793,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $67,038,000 after buying an additional 4,210 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in BlackRock by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 39,539 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $40,532,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK traded up $30.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $884.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 166,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 682,757. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $748.02 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market cap of $137.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $927.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $985.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. BlackRock's payout ratio is 50.63%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company's 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 directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.